Mather Group LLC. Purchases 13,759 Shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 462.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,733 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,759 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $2,856,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VLO. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Valero Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,411,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in Valero Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $67,000. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its position in shares of Valero Energy by 44.7% during the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 89,790 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $14,075,000 after acquiring an additional 27,753 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 37,850 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,051,000 after purchasing an additional 2,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 18.2% in the second quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 2,276 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VLO. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $178.00 to $172.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Argus downgraded Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Valero Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.00.

Valero Energy Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:VLO traded up $1.21 on Tuesday, reaching $148.85. 2,361,437 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,064,839. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Valero Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $119.88 and a 1-year high of $184.79. The company’s 50 day moving average is $152.80 and its 200-day moving average is $154.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.42.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The oil and gas company reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.60 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $34.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.97 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 4.25% and a return on equity of 21.01%. Valero Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Valero Energy Co. will post 13.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a $1.07 dividend. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 1st. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 21.20%.

Insider Activity at Valero Energy

In other news, Director Kimberly S. Greene sold 720 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $113,846.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,105,209.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.