River Road Asset Management LLC Buys 262,468 Shares of Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL)

River Road Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL) by 178.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 409,196 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 262,468 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned 0.58% of Valaris worth $18,103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VAL. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in shares of Valaris by 106.2% in the 4th quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 121,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,376,000 after purchasing an additional 62,603 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Valaris in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $875,000. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Valaris by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $841,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Valaris in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $611,000. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of Valaris by 31.9% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944 shares during the period. 96.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on VAL. Barclays reduced their price target on Valaris from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com raised Valaris to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup upped their price target on Valaris from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI downgraded Valaris from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $87.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Valaris in a research report on Friday, December 6th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.00.

Valaris Stock Down 1.1 %

VAL stock opened at $36.99 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.20 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $44.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.45. Valaris Limited has a fifty-two week low of $31.15 and a fifty-two week high of $84.20.

Valaris (NYSE:VAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $584.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $578.01 million. Valaris had a return on equity of 17.40% and a net margin of 15.81%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Valaris Limited will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

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.