BKM Wealth Management LLC Invests $26,000 in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 200 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Valero Energy by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,065,228 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,276,875,000 after purchasing an additional 395,771 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Valero Energy by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,635,050 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $775,264,000 after purchasing an additional 587,056 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its position in Valero Energy by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,128,301 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $718,850,000 after purchasing an additional 434,057 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Valero Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $534,892,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Valero Energy by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,899,875 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $552,651,000 after buying an additional 121,057 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 issued reports on VLO shares. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $130.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $154.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $146.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Mizuho cut shares of Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $173.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.69.

Valero Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VLO opened at $167.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $55.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.76, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.53. Valero Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $104.18 and a 52 week high of $172.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $144.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The oil and gas company reported $3.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.95 by $0.60. The company had revenue of $35.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.76 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 6.10% and a return on equity of 31.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $8.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Valero Energy Co. will post 15.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 1st were issued a $1.07 dividend. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. This is a positive change from Valero Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 31st. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 17.31%.

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.