Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) Shares Bought by Strategic Financial Concepts LLC

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 40.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,796 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $477,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VLO. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Valero Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $570,428,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 12,883.3% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,047,360 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $136,157,000 after buying an additional 1,039,293 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Valero Energy by 94.4% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,429,706 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $202,585,000 after acquiring an additional 694,224 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,961,603 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,269,949,000 after acquiring an additional 517,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Valero Energy by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,389,654 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $310,655,000 after acquiring an additional 376,449 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on VLO. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $138.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho downgraded Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $173.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Valero Energy from $171.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James raised their target price on Valero Energy from $154.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $179.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.40.

Valero Energy Trading Down 4.6 %

NYSE VLO traded down $7.72 on Tuesday, hitting $159.79. 4,143,435 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,287,796. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $162.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $141.29. The company has a market capitalization of $53.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.54. Valero Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $104.18 and a 52-week high of $184.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.64. The company had revenue of $31.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.02 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 24.82% and a net margin of 5.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $8.27 EPS. Research analysts predict that Valero Energy Co. will post 18.37 EPS for the current year.

Valero Energy 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.