Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) Stock Price Expected to Rise, TD Cowen Analyst Says

Key Points

• TD Cowen raised its price target on Valero Energy from $276 to $292 while keeping a hold rating, implying about 7.74% upside from the prior close.
• Valero shares climbed 4.5% to $271.01, near their 52-week high of $272.17, as the stock continued to trade above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• The company recently beat quarterly expectations, reporting $4.22 EPS versus $3.16 expected and revenue of $32.38 billion, while analysts now expect 27.45 EPS for the full year.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by research analysts at TD Cowen from $276.00 to $292.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "hold" rating on the oil and gas company's stock. TD Cowen's target price points to a potential upside of 7.74% from the stock's previous close.

VLO has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $232.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $215.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $178.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Valero Energy from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $203.00 price objective on shares of Valero Energy in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. 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 data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $246.53.

Valero Energy Stock Up 4.5%

Shares of NYSE:VLO traded up $11.64 during trading on Monday, hitting $271.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,340,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,550,877. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $130.78 and a fifty-two week high of $272.17. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $246.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $217.67. The company has a market capitalization of $80.47 billion, a PE ratio of 19.70, a PEG ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.55.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 15.94% and a net margin of 3.37%.The firm had revenue of $32.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. Valero Energy's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Valero Energy will post 27.45 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,177,191 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $2,959,065,000 after acquiring an additional 163,975 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Valero Energy by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,950,982 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $1,945,500,000 after purchasing an additional 63,919 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Valero Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $1,111,542,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,668,210 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $922,728,000 after purchasing an additional 394,693 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 11.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,033,310 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $1,243,630,000 after buying an additional 516,975 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company's stock.

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.

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