520 Shares in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) Purchased by J.Safra Asset Management Corp

J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 520 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLO. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 4,908.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,850,526 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $384,907,000 after buying an additional 2,793,607 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 900.2% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 631,095 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $85,217,000 after buying an additional 568,000 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 18.8% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,585,166 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $484,105,000 after buying an additional 567,059 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Valero Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $70,352,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 501.1% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 582,500 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $78,655,000 after buying an additional 485,600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $165.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $160.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Valero Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Valero Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $146.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Valero Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.46.

Valero Energy Trading Down 4.5 %

Shares of NYSE:VLO opened at $121.81 on Thursday. Valero Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $116.84 and a 12 month high of $184.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $132.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.66. The firm has a market cap of $38.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.36, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.42.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.50. Valero Energy had a net margin of 2.13% and a return on equity of 9.58%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Valero Energy Co. will post 7.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were 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 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 30th. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is presently 53.30%.

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.