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

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 77,726 call options on the company. This is an increase of 92% compared to the typical daily volume of 40,489 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on VALE shares. Barclays increased their price target on Vale from $13.80 to $14.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Scotiabank upgraded Vale from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $14.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. HSBC raised their price target on shares of Vale from $12.25 to $13.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $15.00 price target on shares of Vale and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Vale from $13.50 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.61.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Vale by 26.0% during the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 21,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 4,344 shares during the period. Choreo LLC grew its stake in Vale by 28.2% during the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 13,675 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $136,000 after buying an additional 3,012 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in Vale in the first quarter worth $2,242,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Vale by 7.9% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 220,439 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,200,000 after buying an additional 16,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Vale by 15.5% in the first quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 24,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $242,000 after buying an additional 3,255 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vale Stock Up 2.7%

VALE stock opened at $12.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $56.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.17 and a beta of 0.82. Vale has a 1-year low of $8.06 and a 1-year high of $12.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $11.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.14. Vale had a net margin of 14.23% and a return on equity of 18.14%. The business had revenue of $10.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.39 billion. Research analysts predict 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.