Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Shares Bought by NFJ Investment Group LLC

NFJ Investment Group LLC grew its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 469,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 70,278 shares during the period. NFJ Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $5,478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Vale by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 73,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $853,000 after purchasing an additional 4,007 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in Vale by 123.4% in the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 12,059,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $140,859,000 after purchasing an additional 6,660,933 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Vale in the third quarter valued at approximately $80,300,000. Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Vale by 50.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 15,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $177,000 after buying an additional 5,081 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Vale during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Price Performance

VALE stock opened at $9.67 on Wednesday. Vale S.A. has a 1 year low of $9.64 and a 1 year high of $16.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.35 billion, a PE ratio of 4.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.88.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $9.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 prior year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VALE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Wolfe Research lowered Vale from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $14.00 to $11.50 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.13.

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.