Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust Acquires 34,040 Shares of Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL)

Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust lifted its holdings in Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL) by 18.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 215,263 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 34,040 shares during the period. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust owned about 0.30% of Valaris worth $16,037,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VAL. General American Investors Co. Inc. increased its stake in Valaris by 72.3% during the second quarter. General American Investors Co. Inc. now owns 234,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,474,000 after acquiring an additional 98,450 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Valaris by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 18,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Valaris by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in Valaris by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 557,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,505,000 after buying an additional 40,951 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in Valaris by 5.2% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 202,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,110,000 after buying an additional 10,062 shares during the last quarter. 96.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VAL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Valaris from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Pickering Energy Partners lowered shares of Valaris from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Valaris in a research report on Monday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Valaris currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.80.

Valaris Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of VAL opened at $55.33 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.73. Valaris Limited has a 1-year low of $55.20 and a 1-year high of $84.20. The company has a 50-day moving average of $68.82 and a 200 day moving average of $70.55.

Valaris (NYSE:VAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $1.07. Valaris had a net margin of 49.33% and a return on equity of 12.58%. The firm had revenue of $610.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $545.00 million. On average, research analysts expect that Valaris Limited will post 4.37 EPS for the current year.

Valaris Company 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.