Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 53,300 Valvoline Inc. (NYSE:VVV)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Valvoline Inc. (NYSE:VVV) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 53,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,264,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VVV. City Holding Co. purchased a new position in Valvoline during the second quarter valued at approximately $128,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Valvoline by 630.1% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 4,808 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Valvoline by 1,210.5% in the first quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 7,578 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new position in Valvoline during the first quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Valvoline during the first quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.01% of the company’s stock.

Valvoline Inc. (VVV) traded down 1.37% on Friday, hitting $21.55. 1,208,958 shares of the company were exchanged. Valvoline Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.30 and a 52 week high of $24.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.73 and a 200 day moving average of $23.07. The company has a market capitalization of $4.37 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.87.

Valvoline (NYSE:VVV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.01. Valvoline had a negative return on equity of 106.06% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business had revenue of $534 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $530.57 million. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Valvoline Inc. will post $1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, September 1st will be paid a $0.049 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 30th. Valvoline’s payout ratio is 15.50%.

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Several research firms have commented on VVV. J P Morgan Chase & Co reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 target price (up from $20.00) on shares of Valvoline in a report on Wednesday, August 9th. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Valvoline from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 13th. Seaport Global Securities raised shares of Valvoline from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $23.00 price target (up from $22.00) on shares of Valvoline in a report on Saturday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.83.

Valvoline Company Profile

Valvoline Inc (Valvoline) is engaged in the production and distribution of automotive, commercial and industrial lubricants, and automotive chemicals. The Company operates through three segments: Core North America, Quick Lubes and International. The Core North America segment sells Valvoline, and other branded and private label products in the United States and Canada to both consumers performing their own automotive maintenance, referred to as Do-It-Yourself (DIY) consumers, as well as, to installer customers using Valvoline products to service vehicles owned by Do-It-For-Me (DIFM) consumers.