Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 692 Shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its position in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 26,420 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 692 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $3,435,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. raised its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 4,981 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $648,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Valero Energy by 5.8% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,005,346 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $142,468,000 after acquiring an additional 55,351 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc boosted its holdings in Valero Energy by 49.7% in the 4th quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 7,615 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $991,000 after buying an additional 2,529 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Valero Energy by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,788,994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $362,569,000 after purchasing an additional 342,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Valero Energy by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 645,726 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $83,867,000 after acquiring an additional 18,575 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

Shares of VLO traded down $1.53 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $156.67. The stock had a trading volume of 2,218,971 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,240,762. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $51.23 billion, a PE ratio of 7.84, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.55. Valero Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $105.49 and a fifty-two week high of $184.79. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $142.01.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.64. The company 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 24.82%. 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 company posted $8.27 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Valero Energy Co. will post 18.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VLO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Valero Energy from $177.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $171.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James upped their target price on Valero Energy from $154.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $167.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.40.

Valero Energy 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.