Traders Purchase Large Volume of Vale Call Options (NYSE:VALE)

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 48,179 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 51% compared to the typical daily volume of 31,919 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vale

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VALE. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Vale by 206.4% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938 shares during the period. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in Vale in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Vale by 68.3% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623 shares in the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in Vale in the first quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Vale by 193.0% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,119 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 2,713 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on VALE. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Vale from $10.50 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America raised shares of Vale from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $11.00 to $11.50 in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $11.00 target price (down from $12.00) on shares of Vale in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. CICC Research began coverage on shares of Vale in a research note on Monday, May 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $11.30 target price for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen began coverage on shares of Vale in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vale presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.04.

Vale Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of Vale stock opened at $9.74 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.47 and a 200-day moving average of $9.37. The stock has a market cap of $44.19 billion, a PE ratio of 7.05, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.76. Vale has a 52-week low of $8.06 and a 52-week high of $12.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $8.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Vale had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 17.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vale will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

About Vale

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.