Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Has $7.26 Million Stock Position in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its position in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 5.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 46,327 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 2,534 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $7,262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 37.6% during the first 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 last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 721.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 337,911 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $43,927,000 after acquiring an additional 296,771 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 5.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,319,436 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $677,007,000 after acquiring an additional 237,347 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Valero Energy in the first quarter worth $39,517,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 20.5% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,145,117 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $179,490,000 after acquiring an additional 194,974 shares during the period. 78.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on VLO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Valero Energy from $178.00 to $172.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Valero Energy from $165.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays decreased their price objective on Valero Energy from $171.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded Valero Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $169.00 to $123.00 in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.07.

Valero Energy Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of Valero Energy stock opened at $134.46 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $43.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.66, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $145.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $155.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Valero Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $119.88 and a twelve month high of $184.79.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.60 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $34.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.97 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 4.25% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.40 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Valero Energy Co. will post 12.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $1.07 per share. This represents a $4.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is 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.