Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Decreases Holdings in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 20.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,837 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 1,266 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $653,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VLO. X Square Capital LLC raised its stake in Valero Energy by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. X Square Capital LLC now owns 15,630 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,111,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 0.8% during the third quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,024 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,485,000 after buying an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Valero Energy by 11,318.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,076,349 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $145,339,000 after buying an additional 1,066,923 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust lifted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 9.6% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,647 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $898,000 after buying an additional 582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its position in Valero Energy by 307.8% during the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 6,599 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $892,000 after acquiring an additional 4,981 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Valero Energy from $173.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $172.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $192.00 to $176.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Valero Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.53.

Valero Energy Trading Down 0.1 %

VLO opened at $132.31 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $42.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 1.39. Valero Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $119.88 and a 52 week high of $184.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $149.45.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The oil and gas company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $32.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.04 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 13.01% and a net margin of 2.74%. Valero Energy’s revenue was down 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $7.49 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Valero Energy Co. will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

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.