Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Increases Stock Holdings in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Key Points

• Fort Washington Investment Advisors boosted its stake in Valero Energy by 4.2% in the first quarter, buying 7,702 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 192,430 shares worth about $47.5 million.
• Valero has continued to attract institutional interest overall, with hedge funds and other institutional investors owning 78.69% of the stock. Meanwhile, company insider Eric A. Fisher sold 7,500 shares in June, cutting his position by 21.59%.
• Analysts remain generally constructive on VLO, with an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $245.59. Valero also recently beat quarterly earnings estimates, reporting $4.22 EPS versus $3.16 expected and raising revenue 7% year over year.

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its position in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO - Free Report) by 4.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 192,430 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,702 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH owned 0.06% of Valero Energy worth $47,546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 5.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 4,143,672 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $705,502,000 after acquiring an additional 209,597 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 33.5% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 42,376 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $6,898,000 after acquiring an additional 10,634 shares during the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $954,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Valero Energy by 359.0% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 14,243 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $2,319,000 after purchasing an additional 11,140 shares during the period. Finally, Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich acquired a new stake in Valero Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,249,000. 78.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Valero Energy news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 7,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.90, for a total transaction of $1,776,750.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 27,242 shares in the company, valued at $6,453,629.80. This represents a 21.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on VLO shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on Valero Energy from $246.00 to $259.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings raised Valero Energy from a "hold (c)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Valero Energy from $220.00 to $292.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $280.00 target price on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Valero Energy from $178.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $245.59.

Valero Energy Price Performance

Valero Energy stock opened at $259.05 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Valero Energy Corporation has a 52-week low of $130.78 and a 52-week high of $265.61. 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. The company's 50 day moving average is $246.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $217.36.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $4.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.16 by $1.06. Valero Energy had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 15.94%. The business had revenue of $32.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Valero Energy Corporation will post 27.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

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

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