Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) Price Target Raised to $292.00

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) had its target price boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $220.00 to $292.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on VLO. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $215.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Valero Energy in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.80.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

Shares of VLO stock opened at $244.02 on Tuesday. Valero Energy has a fifty-two week low of $99.00 and a fifty-two week high of $258.43. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $214.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $186.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $72.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.94, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.62.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.55. The business had revenue of $30.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.20 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 12.35% and a net margin of 1.91%.The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. Analysts predict that Valero Energy will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. This is a boost from Valero Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 5th. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 62.83%.

Insider Activity at Valero Energy

In other news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 8,311 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.69, for a total value of $1,892,331.59. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 42,242 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,618,080.98. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VLO. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Valero Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,111,542,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Valero Energy in the third quarter worth about $275,239,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Valero Energy by 2,635.7% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 950,527 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $154,736,000 after purchasing an additional 915,782 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Valero Energy by 49.3% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,696,811 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $276,224,000 after purchasing an additional 560,116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Valero Energy by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,668,210 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $922,728,000 after purchasing an additional 394,693 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

About Valero Energy

Valero Energy Corporation is a San Antonio, Texas–based integrated downstream energy company that manufactures and markets transportation fuels, petrochemical feedstocks and other industrial products. The company’s operations focus on refining crude oil into finished fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, as well as producing asphalt and other refined product streams for commercial and industrial customers.

In addition to refining, Valero has significant operations in renewable fuels, including the production of ethanol and other biofuels, and it manages an extensive logistics network of pipelines, terminals, rail and marine assets to move feedstocks and finished products.