Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd Invests $46.85 Million in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd bought a new position in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 287,820 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,854,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Valero Energy by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,273,517 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $897,869,000 after acquiring an additional 249,195 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Valero Energy by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 4,143,672 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $705,502,000 after acquiring an additional 209,597 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Valero Energy by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,904,181 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $324,206,000 after acquiring an additional 43,237 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Valero Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $275,239,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Valero Energy by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,007,335 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $171,509,000 after acquiring an additional 22,322 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Valero Energy news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 400 shares of Valero Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.60, for a total transaction of $95,440.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on VLO. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Valero Energy from $255.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $203.00 price target on shares of Valero Energy in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Valero Energy from $203.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Valero Energy from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Valero Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two 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 given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.94.

Valero Energy Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of Valero Energy stock opened at $247.08 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $241.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $204.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a market capitalization of $73.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.96, a PEG ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 0.58. Valero Energy Corporation has a 1-year low of $125.10 and a 1-year high of $263.75.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $4.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.16 by $1.06. The firm had revenue of $32.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.38 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 15.94% and a net margin of 3.37%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Valero Energy Corporation will post 26.51 EPS for the current year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is presently 34.88%.

Valero Energy Profile

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.