Corton Capital Inc. Purchases Shares of 7,425 Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL)

Key Points

• Corton Capital Inc. invested $292,000 in Valaris Limited, acquiring 7,425 shares, making it the firm’s 20th largest position in its investment portfolio.
• The stock is currently held 96.74% by hedge funds and institutional investors, with substantial increases in holdings from firms like Dimensional Fund Advisors LP and Waverton Investment Management Ltd.
• Valaris has been assigned an average rating of "Hold" by analysts, with a consensus target price of $52.50, amid varied price targets and ratings from several research firms.

Corton Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,425 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $292,000. Valaris comprises 1.0% of Corton Capital Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Valaris by 51.7% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 684 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Valaris by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,911 shares of the company's stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Valaris by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 16,622 shares of the company's stock valued at $735,000 after buying an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Valaris by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 7,283 shares of the company's stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Valaris by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 184,318 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,154,000 after buying an additional 588 shares in the last quarter. 96.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Valaris Price Performance

Shares of Valaris stock traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $49.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,491,620 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,794,253. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $44.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.11. Valaris Limited has a one year low of $27.15 and a one year high of $84.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 1.15.

Valaris (NYSE:VAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $615.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $582.70 million. Valaris had a net margin of 12.61% and a return on equity of 14.14%. The firm's revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.03 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Valaris Limited will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on VAL shares. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Valaris from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Valaris in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Valaris from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Valaris from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Valaris to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $52.50.

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.