Intact Investment Management Inc. Acquires 10,000 Shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 73.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 23,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $3,068,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $138.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $154.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $177.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $160.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $156.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.63.

Valero Energy Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE VLO traded down $1.33 during trading on Friday, hitting $165.80. 2,065,193 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,618,982. The firm has a market cap of $55.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.21, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $161.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $140.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Valero Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $104.18 and a 12-month high of $184.79.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.64. The firm had revenue of $31.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.02 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 5.01% and a return on equity of 24.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $8.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Valero Energy Co. will post 18.37 EPS for the current year.

Valero Energy Company Profile

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.