Hennessy Advisors Inc. Buys 12,500 Shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 27.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 58,450 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,500 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $9,977,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VLO. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $648,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 5.8% in the 3rd 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 raised its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 49.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC raised its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 198.8% in the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 16,605 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,159,000 after buying an additional 11,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $362,569,000 after buying an additional 342,218 shares in the last quarter. 78.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Valero Energy Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE VLO traded up $1.29 during trading on Friday, reaching $155.33. 1,133,205 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,125,451. The firm has a market cap of $50.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.47. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $157.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $149.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Valero Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.16 and a fifty-two week high of $184.79.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.64. The firm had revenue of $31.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.02 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 5.01% and a return on equity of 24.82%. 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 company earned $8.27 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Valero Energy Co. will post 16.75 EPS for the current year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.07 per share. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 30th. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.20%.

Insider Activity at Valero Energy

In other Valero Energy news, Director Kimberly S. Greene sold 720 shares of Valero Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.12, for a total value of $113,846.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,105,209.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VLO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $176.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $156.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $138.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $167.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $177.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.00.

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.