Jefferies Financial Group Cuts Vale (NYSE:VALE) Price Target to $11.00

Vale (NYSE:VALE) had its price target cut by Jefferies Financial Group from $14.00 to $11.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

VALE has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group cut shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $11.50 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Vale from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Vale in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.89.

Vale Stock Performance

Vale stock opened at $8.50 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $38.11 billion, a PE ratio of 3.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $9.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.39. Vale has a fifty-two week low of $8.42 and a fifty-two week high of $15.06.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its 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. Vale had a return on equity of 21.07% and a net margin of 22.59%. The business had revenue of $9.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Vale will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in Vale by 3,692.5% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 18,200,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $212,576,000 after buying an additional 17,720,100 shares during the period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda increased its stake in shares of Vale by 60.6% in the second quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 21,969,937 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $245,404,000 after acquiring an additional 8,288,112 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Vale during the third quarter worth $80,300,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its position in Vale by 123.4% during 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. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Vale by 395.3% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,152,069 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,889,000 after purchasing an additional 5,707,969 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.