Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Vale (NYSE:VALE)

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 329,774 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,360% compared to the average volume of 22,588 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on VALE shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $16.50 price objective (down from $19.50) on shares of Vale in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $16.00 price objective (down from $18.00) on shares of Vale in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $16.50 target price on shares of Vale in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.75 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.00.

Vale Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of VALE stock opened at $14.40 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Vale has a twelve month low of $9.67 and a twelve month high of $17.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $14.90 and a 200 day moving average of $15.83. The stock has a market cap of $65.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.39 and a beta of 0.47.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.10). Vale had a return on equity of 19.87% and a net margin of 5.11%.The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.47 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Vale will post 1.9 EPS for the current year.

Vale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.3088 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 13th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 134.69%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Vale by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 28,913 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL grew its holdings in Vale by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL now owns 72,358 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $943,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its stake in Vale by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 38,134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $497,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Vale by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 25,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 708 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of Vale by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 66,870 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $871,000 after buying an additional 853 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Vale

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.