How to Buy Valero Energy Stock
Valero Energy Corp
Valero Energy is a oil & gas refining & marketing company located in Texas, United States, which is part of the Energy sector, and is traded under the ticker VLO on the NYSE exchange.
Valero Energy stock last closed at $244.09, up 1.09% from the previous day, and has increased 82.67% in one year. It has overperformed other stocks in the Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing industry by 0.28 percentage points. Valero Energy stock is currently +146.56% from its 52-week low of $99.00, and -5.55% from its 52-week high of $258.43.
At the moment, there are 299.03M shares of VLO outstanding. The market capitalization of VLO is $72.99B. In the last 24 hours, 2.67M VLO shares were traded.
How to Buy Valero Energy Stock
Wondering how to invest in Valero Energy stock? Here's how.
- Decide where to buy Valero Energy stock: You need to pick a stock brokerage, but don't worry - we've researched dozens of stock brokerages and apps to help you determine where to buy Valero Energy stock.
- Sign up for your brokerage account: Sign up for 0% fee trading with the highest-rated brokerage we've identified.
- Deposit funds into your brokerage account: Pick your payment method and add your information.
- Evaluate Valero Energy stock: The Valero Energy ticker symbol is VLO. Is Valero Energy stock a good investment? Should you buy shares of VLO? How do VLO's underlying business fundamentals look? Do top analysts think Valero Energy is a good buy? Why has VLO's stock price moved recently? (Hint: Our stock research tools can help you evaluate if VLO is a good stock to buy).
- Make your VLO trade: Decide if you will purchase VLO shares at the current market price or use a limit order to buy VLO shares at a particular price.
- Track your VLO position: Create a watchlist to monitor your new investment in Valero Energy shares.
Step 1: Decide where to buy Valero Energy stock
You need a brokerage account to access the NYSE market and buy VLO shares.
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Open eToro AccountStep 2: Sign up for your brokerage account
Now that you've chosen your brokerage, you'll need to fill out some personal details so you are able to buy VLO stock today.
How to Start a New Brokerage Account on eToro
- Click here to get started.eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
- Provide your personal details to start a new brokerage account.
- Submit your data by clicking the "Create Account" button. Get started with eToro today
Step 3: Deposit funds into your brokerage account
Now that you've opened your account on app for stock, you need to deposit funds:
Check out the walkthrough below to see the process of depositing funds into your investment account.
Step 4: Evaluate Valero Energy stock
Once you have chosen the best place to buy Valero Energy stock, it's very important to research their stock before you buy, so you can wrap your head around the risk as well as the opportunity.
Overview of key VLO info
Fundamentals of VLO
WallStreetZen was designed to help everyday investors perform more accurate fundamental analysis in minutes instead of hours.
You can see all of the due diligence checks on VLO's stock page.
Is VLO stock undervalued?
Analysts use many financial metrics, analyses, models, and charts to gauge VLO's true value.
Using relative valuations ratios:
- VLO could be overvalued based on its P/E ratio of 32.24x, relative to Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing industry P/E ratio of 20.06x
- VLO could be overvalued based on its P/B ratio of 3.08x, relative to Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing industry P/B ratio of 3.07x
- VLO may be overvalued based on its PEG ratio of 1.22x
You can access more valuation research on VLO's stock here.
VLO Financial Health Overview
Positive Financial Indicators:
- VLO's operating cash flow of $5.83B allows it to safely service it's debt of $10.62B.
- There are more short-term assets than long-term liabilities on the VLO balance sheet.
- VLO earnings of $3.66B is not sufficient to cover its interest payments.
- There are more short-term assets than short-term liabilities on the VLO balance sheet.
- Total VLO debt is lower than 5 years ago, relative to shareholder equity.
Negative Financial Indicators:
- VLO has a relatively high debt to equity ratio of 1.32.
- VLO profit margin has gone down from 2.1% to 1.9% in the past year.
Is Valero Energy stock a Buy, Hold, or Sell, according to Wall Street analysts?
Out of 12 Equities analysts who give forecasts on VLO, the consensus analyst rating on Valero Energy is a Strong Buy
Please note that analyst forecasts are not stock recommendations, nor are they investment advice.
Latest VLO Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades
Ryan Todd, a top 4% analyst from Piper Sandler maintains VLO with a strong buy rating and raises their VLO price target from $217.00 to $220.00, on Jan 30, 2026.
Piper Sandler's Ryan Todd raised their price target on Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) by 1.4% from $217 to $220 on 2026/01/30. The analyst maintained their Strong Buy rating on the stock.
Valero Energy reported its Q4 and FY 2025 earnings.
Raising their price target, Todd noted that in spite of a "solid" quarter, the stock price dipped post-print to lag peers by 200 to 300 bps.
Arguing that some degree of reversion following YTD outperformance was probably inevitable, the analysis attributed the weakness to "some headwinds from a modest reduction in Q1 2026 estimates because of managment's throughput/Opex guide."
Earnings Report
Valero Energy reported:
For Q4 2025:
- EPS of $3.82, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.22 and Q4 2024's $0.64.
- Revenue of $30.37B, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8.24% but missed Q4 2024's $30.76B.
For FY 2025:
- EPS of $7.57, down from FY 2024's $8.58.
- Revenue of $122.69B, down from FY 2024's $129.88B.
Management did not provide financial guidance in its press release.
Chairman, President & CEO Lane Riggs commented: “2025 was our best year for mechanical availability, personnel safety, and environmental performance, building on the personnel and process safety records we set in 2024.
“We also achieved record refining throughput and ethanol production in both the fourth quarter and the full year.
"These accomplishments reflect the hard work, expertise, and dedication of our entire team.”
Joe Laetsch, an analyst from Morgan Stanley maintains VLO with a hold rating and raises their VLO price target from $180.00 to $182.00, on Jan 30, 2026.
Zach Parham, a top 17% analyst from JP Morgan maintains VLO with a strong buy rating and raises their VLO price target from $197.00 to $200.00, on Jan 8, 2026.
Nitin Kumar, a top 2% analyst from Mizuho downgrades VLO to a hold rating and raises their VLO price target from $190.00 to $192.00, on Dec 12, 2025.
Jean Ann Salisbury, a top 23% analyst from Bank of America downgrades VLO to a hold rating and lowers their VLO price target from $198.00 to $195.00, on Dec 11, 2025.
You can dive deeper into what analysts are projecting on the Valero Energy stock forecast page.
VLO Technicals
VLO Growth Metrics
Last year, VLO earnings were $2.35B. During the last four year, VLO's earnings have gone up by 35.13% per year. This was faster than the Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing industry average of 19.12%.
Last year, VLO revenue was $122.69B. In the past 5 year, VLO's revenue has increased by 13.58% per year. This was slower than the Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing industry average of 13.91%.
Dig into VLO's earnings and revenue performance here.
Who is buying/selling VLO?
Over the past 12 months, insiders at VLO have sold more shares than they have bought.
Eric A. Fisher, SVP of VLO, was the latest VLO insider to sell. They sold $47,745.80 worth of VLO shares on Mar 12, 2026.
Dig into more about who owns VLO stock here.
Does VLO stock generate passive income?
Valero Energy pays a dividend of 1.88%, compared to the Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing industry's average dividend yield of 5.79%. If you owned $1,000 of VLO stock, you would have been paid $18.80 in the past year.
Valero Energy dividend payments have consistently grown over the past decade and have remained stable.
Get more info about Valero Energy dividend yield and history here.
Get analysis from other investors
One of the major reasons eToro is our favorite brokerage is because of its social trading community.
Click below to find out what other investors have to say.
Step 5: Make your VLO trade
There are two main options:
- Market order: A market order is an order to buy or sell a security at the best possible price.
Market orders are mostly the easiest way to buy. - Limit order: A limit order enables you to buy or sell a stock at a specific price (or better).
If you want to ensure you're buying or selling at a specific price, place a limit order.
Hit the Open button and eToro will execute the order.
If you need more help with buying stocks on eToro, click the helpful video below:
Step 6: Track your VLO position
Now that you own some VLO shares, you'll want to stay up-to-date on your new shares.
Put VLO on a watchlist to get the latest updates about your VLO stock.
VLO Feed
How to Buy Stock in Valero Energy
To summarize, here are the 6 steps for buying Valero Energy stock:
- Decide where to buy Valero Energy stock
- Sign up for your brokerage account
- Deposit funds into your brokerage account
- Evaluate Valero Energy stock
- Make your VLO trade
- Track your VLO position
If you require a brokerage account, eToro is our recommended option.
Get Started with eToro TodayIf you want to get updates on your new investment in Valero Energy, create your watchlist below.
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