Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 13.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,444 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 908 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $1,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VLO. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in Valero Energy by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 3,825 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $497,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 153,097 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $19,916,000 after purchasing an additional 7,315 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 1,690 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 106.5% during the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 3,897 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $507,000 after buying an additional 2,010 shares during the period. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its holdings in Valero Energy by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 34,868 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,533,000 after acquiring an additional 6,746 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Valero Energy news, Director Kimberly S. Greene sold 720 shares of Valero Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.12, for a total transaction of $113,846.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,105,209.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VLO shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Valero Energy in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $177.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Valero Energy from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Valero Energy from $160.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Mizuho upgraded Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $175.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Argus cut Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.00.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VLO traded down $0.58 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $148.27. The company had a trading volume of 2,113,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,058,549. The stock has a market cap of $48.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.35, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.42. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $152.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $154.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Valero Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $119.88 and a 12 month high of $184.79.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The oil and gas company reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.60 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $34.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.97 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 4.25% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Valero Energy Co. will post 13.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be given a dividend of $1.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $4.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.20%.

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.