Venture Visionary Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Venture Visionary Partners LLC increased its stake in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 255.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,423 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,898 shares during the quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VLO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 12.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,881,222 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,135,043,000 after acquiring an additional 4,155,522 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Valero Energy by 6.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,437,765 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,510,586,000 after purchasing an additional 736,533 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 276.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,795,436 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,425,754,000 after purchasing an additional 7,931,018 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 34.1% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,905,145 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $647,823,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $529,864,000. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Valero Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VLO opened at $170.30 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $52.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $150.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.29. Valero Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $99.00 and a fifty-two week high of $178.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.62.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The oil and gas company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.62. The business had revenue of $29.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 0.62% and a return on equity of 5.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $1.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is presently 188.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on VLO shares. TD Cowen cut shares of Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $118.00 to $140.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wolfe Research cut Valero Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Valero Energy from $135.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Valero Energy from $171.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $165.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.00.

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.