Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $232.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Valero Energy from $259.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Barclays boosted their price target on Valero Energy from $279.00 to $323.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Valero Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $288.00.

Valero Energy Trading Down 2.1%

NYSE:VLO opened at $302.10 on Tuesday. Valero Energy has a 12 month low of $130.78 and a 12 month high of $320.24. The business’s 50-day moving average is $274.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $241.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.70 billion, a PE ratio of 12.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.55.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The oil and gas company reported $12.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.11 by $2.43. The business had revenue of $44.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.47 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 26.74% and a net margin of 5.17%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.28 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Valero Energy will post 39.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.17, for a total transaction of $2,011,275.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 19,742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,294,212.14. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Valero Energy

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VLO. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 40.7% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,747 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,532,000 after purchasing an additional 7,735 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Valero Energy by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,929 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new position in Valero Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $528,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Valero Energy by 11.3% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 269,043 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $36,165,000 after purchasing an additional 27,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 0.9% during the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 145,810 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $19,600,000 after purchasing an additional 1,338 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Valero Energy Company 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.