Wall Street Zen Downgrades Vale (NYSE:VALE) to Buy

Vale (NYSE:VALE) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

VALE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Vale in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Clarkson Capital began coverage on shares of Vale in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $12.00 price target for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Vale to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Vale from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Vale from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $14.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, September 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.04.

Vale Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Vale stock opened at $13.23 on Friday. Vale has a twelve month low of $8.06 and a twelve month high of $13.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company’s 50 day moving average is $12.42 and its 200 day moving average is $10.99. The company has a market cap of $60.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 0.57.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $10.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.39 billion. Vale had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 18.60%. Research analysts anticipate that Vale will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vale

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Vale by 1,534.8% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,810,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $240,908,000 after acquiring an additional 23,292,629 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its stake in Vale by 165.9% during the 1st quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 31,257,989 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $311,955,000 after purchasing an additional 19,500,437 shares during the period. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD purchased a new position in Vale in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $123,532,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda lifted its holdings in Vale by 303.8% in the 3rd quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 11,068,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $120,203,000 after purchasing an additional 8,327,112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Vale by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 56,457,332 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $613,086,000 after purchasing an additional 6,643,125 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

About Vale

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.