Vale (NYSE:VALE) Stock Gets Price Target Cut from Freedom Broker

Vale (NYSE:VALE) had its price objective cut by Freedom Broker from $12.00 to $9.50 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

VALE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Vale from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Monday, July 27th. UBS Group cut their price target on Vale from $14.50 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Vale from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $16.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, October 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.96.

Vale Trading Up 4.2%

Shares of VALE stock opened at $11.45 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Vale has a 12-month low of $10.96 and a 12-month high of $17.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.68 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $13.65 and its 200 day moving average is $15.19.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.45 billion. Vale had a net margin of 1.64% and a return on equity of 16.54%. Research analysts expect that Vale will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VALE. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Vale during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Ramsey Quantitative Systems bought a new stake in shares of Vale in the second quarter worth about $56,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vale in the first quarter worth about $83,000. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Vale by 19.8% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 7,141 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 1,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M Holdings Securities Inc. bought a new position in Vale during the third quarter valued at approximately $145,000. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Vale

Vale SA is a Brazil-based global mining and logistics company best known for producing iron ore and iron ore pellets, key raw materials used in steelmaking. The company also produces nickel, copper, manganese ore, coal and other mineral products, with operations spanning exploration, extraction, processing and transportation.

Vale operates an extensive logistics network that includes railways, ports and maritime transportation systems, primarily supporting the movement of minerals from its production sites to domestic and international customers.