Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the sixteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $12.6083.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VALE. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Vale from $13.80 to $14.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $15.00 price target on Vale and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Morgan Stanley set a $11.50 target price on Vale in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Vale from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Vale from $13.50 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vale

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 45.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 199,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,171,000 after buying an additional 62,430 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Vale by 10.9% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 22,272,507 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $241,879,000 after acquiring an additional 2,192,285 shares in the last quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. grew its holdings in Vale by 79.3% in the third quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. now owns 929,119 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,090,000 after purchasing an additional 411,035 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Vale by 1.2% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,631,437 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,717,000 after purchasing an additional 18,802 shares during the period. Finally, Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Vale in the third quarter valued at $64,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Price Performance

Vale stock opened at $12.31 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $55.86 billion, a PE ratio of 10.00 and a beta of 0.82. Vale has a 12 month low of $8.06 and a 12 month high of $12.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $11.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.30.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $10.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.39 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 18.14% and a net margin of 14.23%. Analysts expect that Vale will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

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.