Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $86.33.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VAL. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Valaris from $95.00 to $71.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Valaris from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Valaris from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Pickering Energy Partners downgraded shares of Valaris from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Benchmark cut shares of Valaris from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Valaris Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE VAL opened at $51.93 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $57.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.57. The stock has a market cap of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.15. Valaris has a 52-week low of $49.62 and a 52-week high of $84.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 1.73.

Valaris (NYSE:VAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $1.07. The business had revenue of $610.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $545.00 million. Valaris had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 49.33%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Valaris will post 4.37 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Gilles Luca sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.86, for a total value of $1,705,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 108,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,160,326.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Valaris news, SVP Davor Vukadin sold 15,403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.64, for a total transaction of $872,425.92. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $755,237.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Gilles Luca sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.86, for a total transaction of $1,705,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 108,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,160,326.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 71,403 shares of company stock worth $4,028,246. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Valaris

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VAL. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Valaris by 180.8% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 365 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Valaris during the first quarter worth $149,000. Evergreen Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Valaris in the 2nd quarter valued at $204,000. Choreo LLC bought a new position in Valaris during the 2nd quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, Scientech Research LLC purchased a new position in Valaris during the 2nd quarter worth $211,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.74% of the company’s stock.

About Valaris

Valaris Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore contract drilling services Gulf of Mexico, South America, North Sea, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through four segments: Floaters, Jackups, ARO, and Other. It owns an offshore drilling rig fleet, which include drillships, dynamically positioned semisubmersible rigs, moored semisubmersible rig, and jackup rigs.