Appleton Partners Inc. MA Sells 90 Shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA lowered its stake in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,684 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 90 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $497,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 29,257 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,803,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 13,586 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,766,000 after acquiring an additional 5,209 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC purchased a new stake in Valero Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $318,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in Valero Energy by 31.9% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 34,243 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,452,000 after acquiring an additional 8,289 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Valero Energy by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 35,546 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,621,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on VLO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $149.00 to $131.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Valero Energy in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $177.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Valero Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $169.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $165.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.21.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

NYSE VLO opened at $144.00 on Friday. Valero Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $119.88 and a 12-month high of $184.79. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $143.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $154.05. The firm has a market cap of $46.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.13, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.39.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The oil and gas company reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.60 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $34.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.97 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 4.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Valero Energy Co. will post 10.13 EPS for the current year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a $1.07 dividend. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.20%.

Valero Energy Profile

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.