Criterion Capital Advisors LLC Sells 645 Shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Criterion Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 30.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,478 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 645 shares during the quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 6.1% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,961,603 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,269,949,000 after acquiring an additional 517,068 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Valero Energy in the fourth quarter worth $570,428,000. Putnam Investments LLC grew its holdings in Valero Energy by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 3,445,821 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $447,957,000 after purchasing an additional 122,207 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Valero Energy by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,788,994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $362,569,000 after purchasing an additional 342,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Valero Energy by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,389,654 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $310,655,000 after purchasing an additional 376,449 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Argus lowered shares of Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $177.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $167.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $184.00 to $179.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $187.00 to $169.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Valero Energy

In other news, Director Kimberly S. Greene sold 720 shares of Valero Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.12, for a total transaction of $113,846.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,105,209.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Valero Energy Price Performance

Valero Energy stock traded up $2.72 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $156.76. The company had a trading volume of 3,899,070 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,947,304. The company has a market capitalization of $51.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.47. Valero Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $112.16 and a 12-month high of $184.79. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $157.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.64. The company had revenue of $31.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.02 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 5.01% and a return on equity of 24.82%. Valero Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $8.27 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Valero Energy Co. will post 16.09 EPS for the current year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 30th were given a $1.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $4.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.20%.

Valero Energy Profile

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.