Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC Has $2.73 Million Stake in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 34.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 11,058 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,805 shares during the quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $2,732,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 74,758 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $18,471,000 after acquiring an additional 4,257 shares during the last quarter. Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. now owns 95,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $23,473,000 after purchasing an additional 7,100 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in Valero Energy during the first quarter worth $252,000. Montgomery Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Valero Energy by 1.0% during the first quarter. Montgomery Investment Management Inc. now owns 29,890 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,385,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 4.2% in the first quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 192,430 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $47,546,000 after purchasing an additional 7,702 shares during the last quarter. 78.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $246.00 to $259.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $184.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $215.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $222.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Valero Energy from $236.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.59.

Valero Energy Price Performance

Valero Energy stock opened at $259.05 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $246.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $217.67. Valero Energy Corporation has a one year low of $130.78 and a one year high of $265.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $76.92 billion, a PE ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.55.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $4.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.16 by $1.06. The firm had revenue of $32.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.38 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 15.94% and a net margin of 3.37%.The company’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Valero Energy Corporation will post 27.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st were given a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Valero Energy news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.90, for a total transaction of $1,776,750.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 27,242 shares in the company, valued at $6,453,629.80. This represents a 21.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Valero Energy

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.