AQR Capital Management LLC Grows Stake in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC significantly increased its stake in Valero Energy Corporation by 81.2%, acquiring over 633,000 shares in the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to approximately $186.5 million.
• Valero Energy reported earnings of $2.28 per share during its last quarterly report, exceeding analyst expectations and achieving revenue of $29.89 billion, though it reflected a 13.3% decline from the previous year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.13 per share, with a resulting annualized dividend yield of 2.9%, despite a high payout ratio of 188.33%.

AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO - Free Report) by 81.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,413,182 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after buying an additional 633,157 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.45% of Valero Energy worth $186,498,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 276.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,795,436 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $1,425,754,000 after purchasing an additional 7,931,018 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,881,222 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $5,135,043,000 after purchasing an additional 4,155,522 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Valero Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $529,864,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 15,395.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,355,699 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $179,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 34.1% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,905,145 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $647,823,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,196 shares during the last quarter. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Valero Energy Price Performance

VLO traded up $1.26 during trading on Friday, reaching $156.65. 2,599,302 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,107,999. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.62. Valero Energy Corporation has a 12-month low of $99.00 and a 12-month high of $159.26. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $143.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $132.10. The company has a market cap of $48.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.27, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.10.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The oil and gas company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.62. Valero Energy had a net margin of 0.62% and a return on equity of 5.76%. The business had revenue of $29.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. The company's revenue was down 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $1.13 per share. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Valero Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 188.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VLO has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Valero Energy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Bank of America raised shares of Valero Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $152.00 to $179.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $158.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $151.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $140.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $156.40.

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.