Wedmont Private Capital Grows Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 73.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 24,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,246 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Vale were worth $205,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Vale in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Vale during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Vale in the third quarter worth about $79,000. Vienna Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vale in the third quarter valued at about $117,000. Finally, Phillips Wealth Planners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vale during the 3rd quarter valued at about $118,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of Vale stock opened at $8.95 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $9.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.29. Vale S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $8.38 and a fifty-two week high of $14.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $9.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business earned $0.66 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VALE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group cut Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $11.50 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.89.

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.