Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL) Shares Sold by Natixis Advisors L.P.

Natixis Advisors L.P. decreased its stake in Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL) by 50.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,231 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,290 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Valaris were worth $1,454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its position in Valaris by 31.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,812,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,889,000 after purchasing an additional 919,123 shares during the last quarter. Lancaster Investment Management purchased a new stake in Valaris in the 4th quarter valued at $27,436,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG purchased a new stake in Valaris in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,063,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Valaris by 157.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 587,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,072,000 after purchasing an additional 359,168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC raised its position in Valaris by 289.2% in the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 362,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,183,000 after purchasing an additional 269,393 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on VAL shares. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Valaris in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Valaris from $102.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Valaris from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Valaris to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.20.

Valaris Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VAL opened at $75.97 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 1.20. Valaris Limited has a 52 week low of $55.53 and a 52 week high of $78.92. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $71.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Valaris (NYSE:VAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.05). Valaris had a return on equity of 3.81% and a net margin of 44.93%. The firm had revenue of $525.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $503.00 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Valaris Limited will post 4.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valaris 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.