Valaris (NYSE:VAL) Shares Up 4% – Still a Buy?

Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL)’s stock price rose 4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $84.37 and last traded at $84.5460. 100,193 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 1,203,223 shares. The stock had previously closed at $81.27.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Valaris from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Valaris from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Valaris currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $66.60.

Valaris Stock Up 7.7%

The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $82.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.78. The firm has a market cap of $6.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 0.93.

Valaris (NYSE:VAL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $539.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $488.52 million. Valaris had a net margin of 43.95% and a return on equity of 9.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Valaris Limited will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in shares of Valaris in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,068,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in Valaris by 48.7% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 238,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,311,000 after purchasing an additional 78,105 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in Valaris in the second quarter valued at approximately $276,000. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC purchased a new position in Valaris in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,258,000. Finally, Quantitative Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Valaris during the second quarter valued at approximately $871,000. 96.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Valaris Company Profile

Valaris Limited (NYSE: VAL) is an offshore contract drilling company that provides drilling services to energy companies worldwide. The company supports exploration and production activities in offshore oil and natural gas fields, operating mobile offshore drilling units for customers under contract.

Valaris’ fleet includes drillships, semisubmersible rigs and jackup rigs. These units are designed for a range of offshore environments, from relatively shallow waters to deepwater and harsh-environment locations.