Valaris (NYSE:VAL) Stock Rating Raised to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Valaris to “Hold,” while the broader analyst consensus remains “Reduce,” based on six Hold ratings and one Sell rating. The average price target is $67.80, below the stock’s reported $85.35 opening price.
• Valaris beat quarterly expectations with $0.72 in earnings per share versus the $0.31 consensus and revenue of $539.2 million versus $488.5 million expected. However, revenue declined 12.4% year over year.
• Institutional investors own 96.74% of Valaris shares, with several funds initiating or increasing positions during the third quarter. The stock has traded between $47.37 and $114.12 over the past 52 weeks.

Valaris (NYSE:VAL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Valaris from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Valaris from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $67.80.

Valaris Stock Up 1.9%

VAL opened at $85.35 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $84.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market cap of $5.93 billion, a PE ratio of 6.37 and a beta of 1.04. Valaris has a 52 week low of $47.37 and a 52 week high of $114.12.

Valaris (NYSE:VAL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.41. Valaris had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 43.95%. The company had revenue of $539.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $488.52 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.61 EPS. The company's revenue was down 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Valaris will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Valaris

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Merrion Investment Management Co LLC purchased a new stake in Valaris during the third quarter worth about $1,649,000. Milestone Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Valaris in the third quarter valued at about $212,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its holdings in Valaris by 59.6% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 838 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in shares of Valaris by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 8,503 shares of the company's stock valued at $666,000 after acquiring an additional 2,192 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Valaris by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,162 shares of the company's stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.74% of the company's stock.

About Valaris

Valaris Limited NYSE: VAL is an offshore drilling contractor that provides drilling services to oil and gas companies worldwide. The company operates a fleet of offshore rigs, including drillships, semisubmersible rigs and jackup rigs, used to explore for and develop offshore energy resources.

Its services support drilling programs in a range of offshore environments, from shallow-water projects using jackup rigs to deepwater and ultra-deepwater operations using drillships and semisubmersible rigs.

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