Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. Purchases 453 Shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 48.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,383 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $187,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VLO. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Valero Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $15,945,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,293,589 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $174,673,000 after buying an additional 22,571 shares during the period. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Valero Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $535,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 23.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 42,716 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,696,000 after buying an additional 8,198 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 66.0% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,781 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,377,000 after buying an additional 3,492 shares during the period. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Mizuho lowered their target price on Valero Energy from $175.00 to $171.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Valero Energy from $192.00 to $176.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Valero Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $172.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Valero Energy from $146.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut Valero Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $169.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.86.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

Shares of VLO opened at $139.82 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Valero Energy Co. has a one year low of $120.21 and a one year high of $184.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.54, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a fifty day moving average of $136.79 and a 200 day moving average of $145.56.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The oil and gas company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.16. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 13.07% and a net margin of 2.74%. The company had revenue of $32.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.49 earnings per share. Valero Energy’s revenue was down 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Valero Energy Co. will post 8.92 EPS for the current year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $1.07 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.39%.

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.