Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $287.05 and last traded at $287.5160, with a volume of 1931882 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $280.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Valero Energy from $232.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $215.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $220.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $280.00 price objective on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Valero Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $247.59.

Valero Energy Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $253.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $224.99. The firm has a market cap of $86.46 billion, a PE ratio of 21.21, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 0.55.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $4.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.16 by $1.06. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 15.94% and a net margin of 3.37%.The firm had revenue of $32.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.38 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Valero Energy Corporation will post 31.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were paid a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 21st. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Valero Energy

In other news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.17, for a total transaction of $2,011,275.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 19,742 shares in the company, valued at $5,294,212.14. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Valero Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLO. Ballast Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 7.4% in the second quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 6,217 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,619,000 after buying an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Valero Energy in the second quarter worth $205,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Valero Energy in the second quarter worth $286,000. Tema ETFs LLC lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 10.2% in the second quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 6,270 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the period. Finally, HRC Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Valero Energy in the second quarter valued at $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Valero Energy Company Profile

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.