VELA Investment Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Valvoline $VVV

VELA Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in Valvoline (NYSE:VVV) by 38.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 133,756 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 83,972 shares during the quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Valvoline were worth $3,887,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Valvoline by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,323,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $358,121,000 after buying an additional 94,813 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Valvoline by 39.2% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,537,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $198,835,000 after buying an additional 1,560,328 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its holdings in shares of Valvoline by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 3,337,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $119,832,000 after buying an additional 419,094 shares during the period. Sculptor Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Valvoline by 47.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 3,000,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $113,610,000 after buying an additional 966,500 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Valvoline by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,699,938 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,460,000 after buying an additional 413,520 shares during the period. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Valvoline

In related news, insider Julie Marie O’daniel sold 4,312 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.55, for a total transaction of $166,227.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $693,090.45. This represents a 19.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on VVV. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Valvoline in a report on Monday, March 30th. Stephens upped their target price on Valvoline from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Valvoline from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Valvoline from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on shares of Valvoline in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Valvoline currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.40.

Valvoline Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE VVV opened at $32.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.31, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.71 and a beta of 1.03. Valvoline has a 1-year low of $28.50 and a 1-year high of $41.33. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $34.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.20.

Valvoline (NYSE:VVV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $461.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $466.87 million. Valvoline had a return on equity of 69.71% and a net margin of 4.91%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. Valvoline has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.600-1.700 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Valvoline will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Valvoline

Valvoline (NYSE: VVV) is a leading global producer and distributor of automotive and industrial lubricants. The company’s portfolio spans engine oils, gear oils, transmission fluids, greases, coolants and driveline products, all designed to help improve vehicle performance and longevity. Valvoline’s products are marketed under the Valvoline®, Valvoline NextGen® and Valvoline™ SynPower® brand names and are formulated to meet the stringent requirements of passenger cars, light trucks, heavy‐duty vehicles and off‐road applications.

In addition to its core lubricant business, Valvoline operates one of North America’s largest quick‐lubricant service networks through Valvoline Instant Oil Change℠ (VIOC).