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Institutional owners may consider drastic measures as Valero Energy Corporation's (NYSE:VLO) recent US$2.6b drop adds to long-term losses

Key Insights

  • Significantly high institutional ownership implies Valero Energy's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions

  • The top 22 shareholders own 51% of the company

  • Ownership research along with analyst forecasts data help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

If you want to know who really controls Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 81% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And institutional investors saw their holdings value drop by 6.4% last week. The recent loss, which adds to a one-year loss of 18% for stockholders, may not sit well with this group of investors. Often called “market makers”, institutions wield significant power in influencing the price dynamics of any stock. As a result, if the downtrend continues, institutions may face pressures to sell Valero Energy, which might have negative implications on individual investors.

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Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Valero Energy.

View our latest analysis for Valero Energy

ownership-breakdown
ownership-breakdown

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Valero Energy?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Valero Energy. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Valero Energy, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

earnings-and-revenue-growth
earnings-and-revenue-growth

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Valero Energy. The company's largest shareholder is The Vanguard Group, Inc., with ownership of 9.8%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 9.2% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 7.3% by the third-largest shareholder.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 22 shareholders have a combined ownership of 51% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Valero Energy

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Valero Energy Corporation. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own US$178m worth of shares. Arguably recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 19% stake in Valero Energy. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Be aware that Valero Energy is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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