Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 280,520 Shares of Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL)

Van ECK Associates Corp lessened its stake in shares of Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL) by 20.2% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,109,184 shares of the company’s stock after selling 280,520 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Valaris were worth $82,634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VAL. Lingotto Investment Management LLP increased its position in shares of Valaris by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 3,003,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,966,000 after purchasing an additional 104,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Valaris by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,893,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,849,000 after acquiring an additional 77,490 shares in the last quarter. Condire Management LP raised its position in Valaris by 14.7% during the first quarter. Condire Management LP now owns 1,452,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,285,000 after acquiring an additional 186,076 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Valaris by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 870,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,662,000 after acquiring an additional 135,753 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Valaris by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 828,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,344,000 after acquiring an additional 38,531 shares during the period. 96.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on VAL shares. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Valaris from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Pickering Energy Partners lowered Valaris from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Valaris in a report on Monday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.80.

Valaris Stock Performance

VAL stock traded up $0.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $61.06. 1,418,942 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 954,237. Valaris Limited has a 12 month low of $59.39 and a 12 month high of $84.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.75.

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

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.