Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Vale (NYSE:VALE)

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders acquired 106,975 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 147% compared to the average daily volume of 43,391 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Vale in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 215.9% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,780 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Vale by 206.4% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Vale in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its holdings in Vale by 3,092.0% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 3,192 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 3,092 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vale Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of VALE stock traded up $0.14 on Friday, hitting $9.92. 30,043,319 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 35,921,875. 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 twelve month low of $8.38 and a twelve month high of $13.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $9.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.00 billion, a PE ratio of 6.89, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.91.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.36). The firm had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.03 billion. Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Vale will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.3758 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is 88.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on VALE. Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group cut Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $14.00 to $11.50 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Vale has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.26.

Vale Company Profile

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.