Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Buys 845 Shares of Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 3.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,263 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $3,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VLO. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Valero Energy by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,523 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $861,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Valero Energy during the first quarter valued at $872,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in Valero Energy by 27.7% during the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 17,640 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,330,000 after buying an additional 3,825 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Valero Energy in the 1st quarter worth about $225,000. Finally, Orrstown Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Valero Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $224,000. Institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VLO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $118.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $165.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Citigroup downgraded Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $134.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Bank of America raised Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $179.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Valero Energy from $135.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Valero Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.07.

Valero Energy Price Performance

Shares of Valero Energy stock opened at $160.37 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Valero Energy Corporation has a one year low of $99.00 and a one year high of $178.43. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $151.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.05.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The oil and gas company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.62. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 5.76% and a net margin of 0.62%.The firm had revenue of $29.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $1.13 per share. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is currently 188.33%.

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.