Vale (NYSE:VALE) Raised to “Peer Perform” at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Vale (NYSE:VALE) from an underperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Vale in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley downgraded Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.89.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of VALE stock opened at $8.50 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.91. Vale has a fifty-two week low of $8.42 and a fifty-two week high of $15.06. The firm has a market cap of $38.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $9.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.39.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.15. Vale had a return on equity of 21.07% and a net margin of 22.59%. The company had revenue of $9.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Vale will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Vale by 6.3% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 7,951,020 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $92,868,000 after acquiring an additional 468,432 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC purchased a new stake in Vale during the third quarter valued at $1,126,000. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Vale by 274.4% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 162,453 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,915,000 after acquiring an additional 119,061 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP increased its position in Vale by 723.2% in the third quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 2,035,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,774,000 after buying an additional 1,788,205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Vale in the third quarter worth about $1,422,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

About Vale

Vale SA, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells iron ore and iron ore pellets for use as raw materials in steelmaking in Brazil and internationally. The company operates through Iron Solutions and Energy Transition Materials segments. The Iron Solutions segment produces and extracts iron ore and pellets, manganese, and other ferrous products; and provides related logistic services.