Vale (NYSE:VALE) Rating Increased 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 research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on VALE. Barclays dropped their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating for the company 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 for the company in a research report on Monday. UBS Group downgraded Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $14.00 to $11.50 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Vale in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vale currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.89.

Vale Stock Down 0.7 %

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. The company has a market capitalization of $38.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.94, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.92. Vale has a fifty-two week low of $8.42 and a fifty-two week high of $15.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.60 and a 200-day moving average of $10.39.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $9.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Vale will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC increased its stake in Vale by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,605,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $427,550,000 after purchasing an additional 5,635,167 shares during the period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda grew its position in shares of Vale by 60.6% in the 2nd quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 21,969,937 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $245,404,000 after buying an additional 8,288,112 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Vale by 3,692.5% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 18,200,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $212,576,000 after buying an additional 17,720,100 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Vale by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,404,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $203,290,000 after buying an additional 1,682,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of Vale by 123.4% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 12,059,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $140,859,000 after buying an additional 6,660,933 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.