Valaris (NYSE:VAL) Coverage Initiated at Susquehanna

Research analysts at Susquehanna assumed coverage on shares of Valaris (NYSE:VAL) in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a “neutral” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Susquehanna’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 13.01% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. 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. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Valaris in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Pickering Energy Partners cut shares of Valaris from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Valaris from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.50.

Valaris Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of Valaris stock opened at $54.86 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $63.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.61. The company has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.73. Valaris has a 1 year low of $53.06 and a 1 year high of $84.20.

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

Insider Activity at Valaris

In other Valaris news, COO Gilles Luca sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 108,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,160,326.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Davor Vukadin sold 15,403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.64, for a total transaction of $872,425.92. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $755,237.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Gilles Luca sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 108,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,160,326.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VAL. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Valaris by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 870,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,662,000 after purchasing an additional 135,753 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Valaris during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,571,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Valaris during the fourth quarter worth about $43,282,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Valaris by 88.3% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cloverfields Capital Group LP boosted its holdings in Valaris by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Cloverfields Capital Group LP now owns 34,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,358,000 after purchasing an additional 2,389 shares during the last quarter. 96.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Valaris Company Profile

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.