Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $14.5615.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Vale from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Vale in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Bank of America downgraded Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $16.50 price objective on shares of Vale in a research note on Monday, February 9th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vale

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Vale by 58.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 89,322,261 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,163,896,000 after purchasing an additional 32,864,929 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in Vale by 42.4% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 65,132,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $848,677,000 after purchasing an additional 19,397,396 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Vale by 4.3% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 46,215,387 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $501,715,000 after buying an additional 1,910,266 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 2,239.6% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 41,596,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $541,996,000 after buying an additional 39,818,066 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 16.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 28,961,848 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $314,526,000 after buying an additional 4,151,563 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Price Performance

VALE stock opened at $14.06 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $63.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.10 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $15.89 and its 200 day moving average is $13.32. Vale has a 52 week low of $8.06 and a 52 week high of $17.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.15.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported ($0.90) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($1.42). Vale had a return on equity of 20.16% and a net margin of 6.12%.The business had revenue of $11.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.86 billion. Research analysts predict that Vale will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Company Profile

Vale SA is a Brazilian multinational mining company and one of the world’s largest producers of iron ore and iron ore pellets. In addition to iron ore, the company produces and sells a range of bulk commodities and metals, including nickel, copper, coal, manganese, ferroalloys and cobalt, and it participates in the fertilizer inputs market. Vale also operates extensive logistics assets — including rail, port and maritime logistics — that support its mining and export activities and provide services to third parties in some regions.

Headquartered in Brazil, Vale maintains a global operational footprint with mining, processing and shipping activities across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.