Vale Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:VALE)

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 68,789 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 87% compared to the typical volume of 36,712 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vale

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 701,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,783,000 after acquiring an additional 8,489 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Vale by 13.2% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 301,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,520,000 after buying an additional 35,183 shares during the period. PVG Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Vale in the third quarter worth about $182,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Vale in the third quarter valued at about $79,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vale by 89.7% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 9,161 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of Vale stock opened at $9.25 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $10.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.76. Vale has a twelve month low of $9.22 and a twelve month high of $16.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.38, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.91.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $9.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.61 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 21.07% and a net margin of 22.59%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Vale will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on VALE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Friday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Vale from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.38.

Vale Company Profile

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.