WINTON GROUP Ltd Increases Stake in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

WINTON GROUP Ltd increased its position in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 47.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,549 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 4,028 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $1,687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Valero Energy by 276.9% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Valero Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $827,390,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 16.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,141,511 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,089,897,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164,217 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Valero Energy by 81.2% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,413,182 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $186,498,000 after buying an additional 633,157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Valero Energy in the second quarter valued at $86,647,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VLO. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $195.00 price objective (up from $181.00) on shares of Valero Energy in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Valero Energy from $201.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Valero Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $160.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $181.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $152.00 to $179.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.00.

Valero Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VLO opened at $175.42 on Wednesday. Valero Energy Corporation has a one year low of $99.00 and a one year high of $185.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.62, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $170.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.76. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $32.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.80 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 1.21%.The business’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 94.36%.

Insider Activity at Valero Energy

In related news, CFO Jason W. Fraser sold 9,933 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.02, for a total transaction of $1,728,540.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 134,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,352,787.92. This trade represents a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.