Valaris (NYSE:VAL) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Sell

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Valaris (NYSE:VAL) to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on VAL. TheStreet raised Valaris from a c rating to a b- rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays lowered their target price on Valaris from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Valaris from $107.00 to $105.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $100.00.

Valaris Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VAL opened at $69.23 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.08. Valaris has a 52 week low of $54.13 and a 52 week high of $78.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 1.71. The firm has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 1.13.

Valaris (NYSE:VAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $483.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $484.00 million. Valaris had a net margin of 48.50% and a return on equity of 5.71%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Valaris will post 4.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Valaris

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VAL. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Valaris by 31.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,812,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,889,000 after acquiring an additional 919,123 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Valaris in the 4th quarter valued at $43,282,000. Lancaster Investment Management bought a new position in shares of Valaris during the fourth quarter valued at $27,436,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG acquired a new position in Valaris in the third quarter valued at about $27,063,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Valaris by 157.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 587,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,072,000 after acquiring an additional 359,168 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.74% of the company’s stock.

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.