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

Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $14.96.

VALE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $15.00 price objective on Vale and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Freedom Broker reduced their price objective on Vale from $12.00 to $9.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $16.00 in a report on Monday, July 27th. Scotiabank upgraded Vale from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $16.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, October 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Vale from $15.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VALE. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 6,351,703 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $376,843,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205,280 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Vale by 119.9% during the first 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. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 3,012,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new position in Vale in the first quarter valued at about $128,239,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Stock Down 0.1%

VALE stock opened at $11.41 on Friday. Vale has a 12 month low of $10.96 and a 12 month high of $17.94. The firm has a market cap of $51.81 billion, a PE ratio of 7.99 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 16.54% and a net margin of 1.64%. Equities research analysts forecast that Vale will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Vale

Vale SA is a Brazil-based global mining and logistics company best known for producing iron ore and iron ore pellets, key raw materials used in steelmaking. The company also produces nickel, copper, manganese ore, coal and other mineral products, with operations spanning exploration, extraction, processing and transportation.

Vale operates an extensive logistics network that includes railways, ports and maritime transportation systems, primarily supporting the movement of minerals from its production sites to domestic and international customers.