Vale (NYSE:VALE) PT Lowered to $15.00

Vale (NYSE:VALE) had its target price dropped by stock analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $16.50 to $15.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target points to a potential upside of 35.56% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on VALE. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Vale from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.17.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of VALE opened at $11.07 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $10.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.45. Vale has a 1-year low of $9.66 and a 1-year high of $16.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.61 billion, a PE ratio of 6.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.93.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $9.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.97 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 22.23% and a net margin of 23.07%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Vale will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vale

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Vale by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,965,164 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,029,000 after purchasing an additional 142,106 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Vale by 60.1% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 104,536 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,658,000 after acquiring an additional 39,234 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in shares of Vale during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,246,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 85.1% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 491,207 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,791,000 after acquiring an additional 225,806 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its position in Vale by 73.5% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 59,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 25,254 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.