Vale (NYSE:VALE) Price Target Raised to $16.00

Vale (NYSE:VALE) had its price objective boosted by UBS Group from $12.00 to $16.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on VALE. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Vale from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $14.50 to $15.50 in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Vale in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Vale from $13.80 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America cut Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.18.

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VALE opened at $15.03 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $15.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.52. Vale has a 52 week low of $8.06 and a 52 week high of $17.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.20 billion, a PE ratio of 26.83 and a beta of 0.52.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported ($0.90) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($1.42). The company had revenue of $11.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.86 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 20.16% and a net margin of 6.12%. Analysts predict that Vale will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VALE. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Vale by 58.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 89,322,261 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,163,896,000 after buying an additional 32,864,929 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Vale by 42.4% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 65,132,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $848,677,000 after buying an additional 19,397,396 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Vale by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 46,215,387 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $501,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910,266 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Vale by 2,239.6% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 41,596,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $541,996,000 after buying an additional 39,818,066 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Vale by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 28,961,848 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $314,526,000 after acquiring an additional 4,151,563 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Company Profile

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.