Principal Securities Inc. Acquires New Position in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,291 shares of the oil and gas company's stock, valued at approximately $818,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Valero Energy during the third quarter worth about $28,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Valero Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Valero Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Valero Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Valero Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors own 78.69% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kimberly S. Greene sold 720 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.12, for a total value of $113,846.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,314 shares in the company, valued at $2,105,209.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on VLO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $130.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $160.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $177.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $179.00 to $173.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $174.60.

Valero Energy Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of VLO stock traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $155.90. The stock had a trading volume of 1,510,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,196,057. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $164.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $142.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.98 billion, a PE ratio of 7.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Valero Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $105.66 and a 52-week high of $184.79.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.64. The firm had revenue of $31.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.02 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 5.01% and a return on equity of 24.82%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $8.27 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Valero Energy Co. will post 18.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.