Vale (NYSE:VALE) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Vale (NYSE:VALE) in a research report sent to investors on Friday. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on VALE. UBS Group downgraded shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $11.50 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Wolfe Research lowered Vale from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vale presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.38.

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VALE opened at $9.26 on Friday. Vale has a one year low of $9.22 and a one year high of $16.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market cap of $41.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $10.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.71.

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

Institutional Trading of Vale

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vale by 34.2% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 14,880 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $181,000 after purchasing an additional 3,794 shares in the last quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Vale by 359.5% during the second quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC now owns 68,413 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $764,000 after buying an additional 53,524 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 16.1% in the second quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,030 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 4,450 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its stake in Vale by 6.9% during the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 17,932 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Vale by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 62,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $693,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187 shares during the period. 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.