Bessemer Group Inc. Has $1.35 Million Stock Position in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Bessemer Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 18.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,012 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 2,268 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $1,346,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brookwood Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Valero Energy in the second quarter worth $267,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Valero Energy by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 9,159 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,231,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the period. First Command Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Valero Energy by 49.7% in the 2nd quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 654 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group bought a new position in shares of Valero Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,117,000. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Valero Energy by 9.7% during the second quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 83,801 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $11,265,000 after buying an additional 7,432 shares during the last quarter. 78.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VLO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Valero Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America upgraded Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $179.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Valero Energy from $166.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Valero Energy from $177.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup cut Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $134.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.27.

Valero Energy Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of VLO opened at $170.25 on Friday. Valero Energy Corporation has a 1 year low of $99.00 and a 1 year high of $178.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $161.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $142.49. The stock has a market cap of $52.89 billion, a PE ratio of 35.54, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.05.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.51. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 1.21%.The business had revenue of $32.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. Valero Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $1.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.36%.

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.