Van ECK Associates Corp Trims Stock Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Van ECK Associates Corp lessened its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,535,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 65,856 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 0.10% of Vale worth $40,231,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Vale by 18.2% during the 3rd 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. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 17,720,100 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $203,290,000 after buying an additional 1,682,544 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its position in shares of Vale by 123.4% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 12,059,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $140,859,000 after buying an additional 6,660,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Vale by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,906,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $139,073,000 after buying an additional 53,061 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of VALE opened at $9.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s fifty day moving average is $9.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.02. Vale S.A. has a 1 year low of $8.38 and a 1 year high of $13.77.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group cut shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $14.00 to $11.50 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.26.

Vale 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.