Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.07

Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 18th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a dividend of 1.07 per share by the oil and gas company on Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%.

Valero Energy has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.3% annually over the last three years. Valero Energy has a payout ratio of 30.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Valero Energy to earn $14.13 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.3%.

Valero Energy Stock Down 1.5 %

VLO traded down $2.27 during trading on Thursday, reaching $147.78. The company had a trading volume of 2,315,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,090,422. The company has a market cap of $48.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.43, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.42. Valero Energy has a 12 month low of $115.50 and a 12 month high of $184.79. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $154.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $152.15. 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 results on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.64. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 24.82% and a net margin of 5.01%. The firm had revenue of $31.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Valero Energy will post 14.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Valero Energy

In other news, Director Kimberly S. Greene sold 720 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,105,209.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Valero Energy from $160.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com cut Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Valero Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Valero Energy from $179.00 to $156.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $175.00 in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Valero Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.75.

Valero Energy Company 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.