Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Has $469,000 Stock Position in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its position in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,827 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 201 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,440 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its stake in Valero Energy by 10.2% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 11,229 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,760,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Valero Energy by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 3,295 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $517,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Valero Energy by 212.6% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 8,813 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,382,000 after acquiring an additional 5,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 17,350 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,720,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares during the period. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VLO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Valero Energy from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Valero Energy from $192.00 to $176.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Valero Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $165.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $146.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.57.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Valero Energy stock opened at $141.21 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $44.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.42. Valero Energy Co. has a one year low of $116.84 and a one year high of $184.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $131.25 and its 200-day moving average is $138.20.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The oil and gas company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.16. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 13.07% and a net margin of 2.74%. The firm had revenue of $32.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $7.49 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Valero Energy Co. will post 7.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a $1.13 dividend. This is a positive change from Valero Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.07. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is presently 38.39%.

Valero Energy Company 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.