Vale (NYSE:VALE) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Vale (NYSE:VALE) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on VALE. HSBC lifted their price target on Vale from $12.25 to $13.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Clarkson Capital started coverage on shares of Vale in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $12.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Vale from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Vale from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Vale from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $14.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.61.

Vale Stock Up 0.5%

Vale stock opened at $12.36 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $56.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.05 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Vale has a fifty-two week low of $8.06 and a fifty-two week high of $12.48. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $11.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.25.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $10.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.39 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 18.14% and a net margin of 14.23%. As a group, analysts forecast that Vale will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vale by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 199,736 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,993,000 after buying an additional 50,963 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Vale by 21.3% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 902,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,005,000 after buying an additional 158,194 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Vale by 233.7% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 3,810 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Vale by 26.0% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 21,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $210,000 after acquiring an additional 4,344 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in Vale by 13.9% during the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 40,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $407,000 after acquiring an additional 4,988 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

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.