Foundations Investment Advisors LLC Sells 11,229 Shares of Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 20.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,405 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 11,229 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $7,066,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Valero Energy in the third quarter worth $275,239,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 2,635.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 950,527 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $154,736,000 after purchasing an additional 915,782 shares in the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Valero Energy in the fourth quarter worth $46,854,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 5.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,273,517 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $897,869,000 after purchasing an additional 249,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 96.5% in the third quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 444,919 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $75,752,000 after purchasing an additional 218,448 shares in the last quarter. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on VLO shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $246.00 to $259.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $220.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $184.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Zacks Research raised shares of Valero Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 8,311 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.69, for a total transaction of $1,892,331.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 42,242 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,618,080.98. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

VLO opened at $245.10 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.81, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average of $242.67 and a 200 day moving average of $206.77. Valero Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $125.10 and a fifty-two week high of $263.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.58.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $4.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.16 by $1.06. The company had revenue of $32.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.38 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 15.94%. Valero Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Valero Energy Corporation will post 26.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.88%.

Valero Energy Company Profile

Valero Energy Corporation is a San Antonio, Texas–based integrated downstream energy company that manufactures and markets transportation fuels, petrochemical feedstocks and other industrial products. The company’s operations focus on refining crude oil into finished fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, as well as producing asphalt and other refined product streams for commercial and industrial customers.

In addition to refining, Valero has significant operations in renewable fuels, including the production of ethanol and other biofuels, and it manages an extensive logistics network of pipelines, terminals, rail and marine assets to move feedstocks and finished products.