Ballentine Partners LLC Acquires 22,145 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 162.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,772 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,145 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $317,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of VALE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Vale by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,005,525 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,741,000 after purchasing an additional 363,783 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Vale by 6.5% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,497,507 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,727,000 after buying an additional 91,388 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Vale by 12.5% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 551,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,163,000 after buying an additional 61,370 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Vale by 36.9% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,406,648 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,882,000 after acquiring an additional 648,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Vale by 35.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,032,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $45,047,000 after acquiring an additional 1,055,867 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VALE opened at $8.99 on Friday. Vale S.A. has a 1-year low of $8.38 and a 1-year high of $14.27. 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 cap of $39.76 billion, a PE ratio of 4.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.20.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $9.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 company earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on VALE shares. Morgan Stanley lowered Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group cut Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $11.50 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.89.

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.