Legal & General Group Plc Has $4.82 Million Position in Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its position in Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 108,977 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,674 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.15% of Valaris worth $4,821,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Valaris by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,956,000 after buying an additional 1,634 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in Valaris by 2.2% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 190,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,594,000 after purchasing an additional 4,065 shares during the last quarter. City Center Advisors LLC bought a new position in Valaris in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $319,000. Moody National Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in shares of Valaris during the 4th quarter worth approximately $416,000. Finally, 180 Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Valaris during the 4th quarter worth approximately $409,000. Institutional investors own 96.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Valaris from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Valaris from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Valaris from $47.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays lowered their price target on Valaris from $46.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Valaris to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Valaris presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.33.

Valaris Stock Performance

VAL opened at $30.98 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.69. Valaris Limited has a 1 year low of $27.15 and a 1 year high of $84.20. The company has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 1.06.

Valaris (NYSE:VAL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.68. Valaris had a net margin of 15.81% and a return on equity of 17.40%. The company had revenue of $584.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $578.01 million. Research analysts expect that Valaris Limited will post 3.96 EPS for the current 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.