Alpha Cubed Investments LLC Invests $214,000 in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,644 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marino Stram & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Valero Energy by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 8,384 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,090,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its position in shares of Valero Energy by 0.8% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 10,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its stake in Valero Energy by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 1,690 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $220,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Fulcrum Equity Management raised its holdings in Valero Energy by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management now owns 8,806 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,145,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 40.3% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 303 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $167.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Mizuho cut Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $173.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Valero Energy from $177.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America raised Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on Valero Energy from $154.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.40.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

Shares of VLO stock opened at $155.66 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.75 billion, a PE ratio of 7.71, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.55. Valero Energy Co. has a one year low of $104.18 and a one year high of $184.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $162.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.39.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.64. The company had revenue of $31.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.02 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 5.01% and a return on equity of 24.82%. Valero Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $8.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Valero Energy Co. will post 18.3 earnings per share 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.