Ritholtz Wealth Management Purchases 33,285 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 17.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 228,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,285 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Vale were worth $2,024,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Vale in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Vale in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Vale in the third quarter valued at about $79,000. Moody National Bank Trust Division bought a new position in shares of Vale in the fourth quarter valued at about $96,000. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Vale in the fourth quarter valued at about $98,000. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vale Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of Vale stock opened at $8.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Vale S.A. has a 12-month low of $8.38 and a 12-month high of $14.47. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $9.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.28.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $9.55 billion for 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 prior year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $11.50 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Seven 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 company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.