Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $15.71

Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.96.

VALE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Freedom Broker reduced their price objective on shares of Vale from $12.00 to $9.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Vale from $15.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Vale from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Vale from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VALE. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Vale by 15.3% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 47,947,703 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $762,848,000 after purchasing an additional 6,351,703 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in Vale by 5.4% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 23,685,915 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $376,843,000 after buying an additional 1,205,280 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Vale by 0.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,827,254 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $306,113,000 after buying an additional 129,613 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Vale by 119.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 21,837,416 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $347,433,000 after purchasing an additional 11,905,247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vale by 27.3% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 14,053,337 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,589,000 after buying an additional 3,012,700 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Price Performance

VALE stock opened at $11.59 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $13.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.16. The stock has a market cap of $52.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.30 and a beta of 0.50. Vale has a fifty-two week low of $10.96 and a fifty-two week high of $17.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.45 billion. Vale had a net margin of 1.64% and a return on equity of 16.54%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Vale will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Company Profile

Vale SA is a Brazilian mining and logistics company best known for producing iron ore and iron ore pellets, which are used in steelmaking. Its other products include nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese, serving customers in the steel, energy and technology industries.

Founded in 1942 as Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, the company is headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. Its operations and projects span several countries, including Brazil, Canada and Indonesia.

In addition to mining, Vale operates railways, ports and other logistics infrastructure that support the transportation of its products.