Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.13

Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 16th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be given a dividend of 1.13 per share by the oil and gas company on Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Valero Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.07.

Valero Energy has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.0% per year over the last three years. Valero Energy has a payout ratio of 38.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Valero Energy to earn $8.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.2%.

Valero Energy Trading Up 1.3 %

VLO stock opened at $141.21 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $131.16 and a 200-day moving average of $138.59. The company has a market cap of $44.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.66, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.42. Valero Energy has a twelve month low of $116.84 and a twelve month high of $184.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The oil and gas company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $32.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.04 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 2.74% and a return on equity of 13.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.49 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Valero Energy will post 7.96 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VLO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen cut their price target on Valero Energy from $145.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Valero Energy from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Valero Energy from $173.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $192.00 to $176.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $146.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.57.

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.