Vale (NYSE:VALE) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Vale (NYSE:VALE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on VALE. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Bank of America raised shares of Vale from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $18.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $16.50 price objective (down from $19.50) on shares of Vale in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Vale from $19.50 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Vale from $12.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.54.

Vale Price Performance

VALE opened at $14.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $64.47 billion, a PE ratio of 21.20 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $15.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.74. Vale has a 1 year low of $9.36 and a 1 year high of $17.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $9.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.53 billion. Vale had a net margin of 7.21% and a return on equity of 21.10%. Sell-side analysts predict that Vale will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Vale

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VALE. Accel Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Vale by 15.4% during the second quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 13,938 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862 shares during the last quarter. Ramsey Quantitative Systems bought a new position in Vale during the second quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Vale by 32.2% in the second quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 80,716 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,214,000 after purchasing an additional 19,640 shares during the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its holdings in Vale by 14.6% in the second quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 18,601 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 2,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC grew its position in Vale by 17.7% in the 2nd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 14,117 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 2,119 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.