R Squared Ltd Makes New Investment in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,334 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $608,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 0.6% during the first quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 6,670 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,648,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. increased its holdings in Valero Energy by 5.8% in the second quarter. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. now owns 916 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC raised its stake in Valero Energy by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 975 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $159,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 32.9% during the 4th quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 206 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 4,810 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,253,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VLO shares. Barclays raised their target price on Valero Energy from $279.00 to $323.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $338.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $280.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Valero Energy news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 7,500 shares of Valero Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.17, for a total value of $2,011,275.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 19,742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,294,212.14. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Valero Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VLO opened at $341.36 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $98.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.55. Valero Energy Corporation has a twelve month low of $135.01 and a twelve month high of $346.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $283.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $247.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The oil and gas company reported $12.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.11 by $2.43. The business had revenue of $44.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.47 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 5.17% and a return on equity of 26.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.28 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Valero Energy Corporation will post 40.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.92%.

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.