Renaissance Technologies LLC Buys Shares of 491,572 Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL)

Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 491,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,747,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in Valaris by 395.0% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 1,177 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Valaris by 41.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in shares of Valaris by 326.9% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,435 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Valaris by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in Valaris in the 4th quarter worth $176,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.74% of the company’s stock.

Valaris Stock Performance

NYSE VAL opened at $31.61 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.25 billion, a PE ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.06. Valaris Limited has a 1-year low of $27.15 and a 1-year high of $84.20. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

Valaris (NYSE:VAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.68. Valaris had a net margin of 15.81% and a return on equity of 17.40%. The business had revenue of $584.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $578.01 million. On average, research analysts predict that Valaris Limited will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VAL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Valaris to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Valaris from $46.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Valaris from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Valaris from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on Valaris from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.50.

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.