Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Shares Bought by Wedmont Private Capital

Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 73.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 10,246 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Vale were worth $205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in shares of Vale by 3,692.5% during 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 last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda increased its holdings in Vale by 60.6% during the 2nd quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 21,969,937 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $245,404,000 after acquiring an additional 8,288,112 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in Vale during the third quarter worth about $80,300,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Vale by 395.3% in 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 last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group downgraded Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $11.50 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Vale in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.89.

Vale Stock Performance

NYSE VALE opened at $8.95 on Friday. Vale S.A. has a 12 month low of $8.38 and a 12 month high of $14.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a 50-day moving average of $9.34 and a 200-day moving average of $10.29.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $9.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.61 billion. Vale had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 21.07%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale 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.