Vale (NYSE:VALE) Rating Lowered to “Neutral” at UBS Group

UBS Group lowered shares of Vale (NYSE:VALE) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. UBS Group currently has $11.50 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $14.00.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on VALE. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Vale in a research report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Vale from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Vale from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.83.

Vale Price Performance

NYSE VALE opened at $9.82 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $44.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $10.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.15. Vale has a fifty-two week low of $9.66 and a fifty-two week high of $16.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $9.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.61 billion. Vale had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 21.07%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Vale will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vale

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VALE. FMR LLC grew its stake in Vale by 18.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,605,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $427,550,000 after buying an additional 5,635,167 shares during the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 60.6% in the 2nd quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 21,969,937 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $245,404,000 after acquiring an additional 8,288,112 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Vale by 3,692.5% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 18,200,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $212,576,000 after acquiring an additional 17,720,100 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Vale by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,404,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $203,290,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Vale by 4.1% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 12,269,261 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $149,561,000 after purchasing an additional 485,702 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

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.