Auxano Advisors LLC Buys 311 Shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Auxano Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,822 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Auxano Advisors LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $497,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 4,981 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $648,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 5.8% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,005,346 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $142,468,000 after buying an additional 55,351 shares in the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc grew its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 49.7% during the fourth quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 7,615 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $991,000 after buying an additional 2,529 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,788,994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $362,569,000 after acquiring an additional 342,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Valero Energy by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 645,726 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $83,867,000 after acquiring an additional 18,575 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VLO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho downgraded Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $173.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays lowered their price target on Valero Energy from $179.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $138.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $171.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $177.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.40.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VLO traded down $7.64 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $159.87. The company had a trading volume of 4,124,113 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,287,550. Valero Energy Co. has a one year low of $104.18 and a one year high of $184.79. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $161.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $141.05. The firm has a market cap of $53.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.09, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

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

About Valero Energy

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.