State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. Lowers Stock Holdings in Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL)

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. reduced its position in Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL) by 20.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,965 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,734 shares during the quarter. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.’s holdings in Valaris were worth $2,609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VAL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Valaris by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,454,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $285,532,000 after buying an additional 23,509 shares in the last quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Valaris by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 3,637,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,910,000 after acquiring an additional 87,420 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Valaris by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,446,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,365,000 after purchasing an additional 112,216 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Valaris by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,519,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,736,000 after purchasing an additional 66,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Valaris by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 797,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,436,000 after purchasing an additional 29,031 shares during the period. 96.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Valaris Stock Performance

Shares of VAL stock opened at $39.44 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.67 and a beta of 1.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $42.25 and a 200 day moving average of $46.62. Valaris Limited has a 52 week low of $31.15 and a 52 week high of $84.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Valaris (NYSE:VAL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $584.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $578.01 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Valaris Limited will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Valaris from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Evercore ISI lowered 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. StockNews.com upgraded Valaris to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Valaris in a report on Friday, December 6th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $40.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Valaris from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Valaris has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.33.

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.