Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Vale (NYSE:VALE) Stock Price

Key Points

• Barclays lowered Vale’s price target from $15.00 to $14.50 while maintaining an “equal weight” rating, implying approximately 27.8% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed but generally cautious: Vale has a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $15.67, based on three Buy, ten Hold and two Sell ratings.
• Vale shares closed at $11.35 and remain below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages. The company’s latest quarterly earnings missed expectations on EPS, reporting $0.29 versus the $0.38 consensus, despite revenue exceeding forecasts.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) had its target price lowered by analysts at Barclays from $15.00 to $14.50 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "equal weight" rating on the basic materials company's stock. Barclays's price objective points to a potential upside of 27.81% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Vale from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Vale from $12.00 to $12.50 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Vale from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $18.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Vale from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Vale from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $16.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vale presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $15.67.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of VALE stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $11.35. The stock had a trading volume of 27,867,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,515,234. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.64 and a beta of 0.42. Vale has a one year low of $11.06 and a one year high of $17.94. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $13.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.24.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.45 billion. Vale had a net margin of 1.64% and a return on equity of 16.72%. Equities analysts forecast that Vale will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Vale

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Vale by 119.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 21,837,416 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $347,433,000 after purchasing an additional 11,905,247 shares in the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new position in shares of Vale during the first quarter valued at approximately $128,239,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Vale by 15.3% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 47,947,703 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $762,848,000 after buying an additional 6,351,703 shares during the period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda increased its holdings in Vale by 1,302.4% during the first quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 5,539,608 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $88,135,000 after buying an additional 5,144,590 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Vale by 1,287.2% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,262,015 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $83,719,000 after buying an additional 4,882,675 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vale Company Profile

Vale SA is a Brazil-based global mining and logistics company best known for producing iron ore and iron ore pellets, key raw materials used in steelmaking. The company also produces nickel, copper, manganese ore, coal and other mineral products, with operations spanning exploration, extraction, processing and transportation.

Vale operates an extensive logistics network that includes railways, ports and maritime transportation systems, primarily supporting the movement of minerals from its production sites to domestic and international customers.

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