Freestone Capital Holdings LLC Makes New Investment in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Freestone Capital Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,295 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $308,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VLO. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Valero Energy by 276.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,795,436 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,425,754,000 after acquiring an additional 7,931,018 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Valero Energy by 12.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,881,222 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,135,043,000 after acquiring an additional 4,155,522 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Valero Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $529,864,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Valero Energy by 34.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,905,145 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $647,823,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247,196 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Valero Energy by 6.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,437,765 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,510,586,000 after acquiring an additional 736,533 shares during the period. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on VLO. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $200.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $183.00 price objective on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $151.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $135.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective (up from $181.00) on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.27.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

VLO opened at $168.89 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.26, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $162.99 and a 200 day moving average of $144.25. Valero Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $99.00 and a fifty-two week high of $178.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $32.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.80 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 1.21% and a return on equity of 8.69%. Valero Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

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

Valero Energy Company Profile

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.