Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp trimmed its position in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 23.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 54,185 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 16,218 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $8,494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VLO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Valero Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $570,428,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Valero Energy by 37.6% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,558,750 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $266,040,000 after acquiring an additional 426,093 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Valero Energy by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,389,654 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $310,655,000 after acquiring an additional 376,449 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in Valero Energy by 721.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 337,911 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $43,927,000 after acquiring an additional 296,771 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $39,517,000. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Valero Energy from $187.00 to $169.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 14th. StockNews.com cut Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Valero Energy from $178.00 to $172.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Argus cut Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Valero Energy from $171.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Valero Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.50.

Valero Energy Trading Up 1.4 %

VLO opened at $136.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $43.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business’s 50 day moving average is $147.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.66. Valero Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $119.88 and a 52 week high of $184.79.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The oil and gas company reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.60 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $34.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.97 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 4.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Valero Energy Co. will post 12.3 EPS for the current year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a $1.07 dividend. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is currently 21.20%.

About Valero Energy

Valero Energy Corporation manufactures, markets, and sells petroleum-based and low-carbon liquid transportation fuels and petrochemical products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Refining, Renewable Diesel, and Ethanol.