Ninety One SA PTY Ltd Purchases Shares of 44,875 Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Ninety One SA PTY Ltd purchased a new stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 44,875 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $444,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of VALE. FMR LLC boosted its position in Vale by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,163,226 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $418,338,000 after acquiring an additional 10,557,888 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Vale by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 33,995,398 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $301,541,000 after acquiring an additional 5,775,590 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Vale by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 18,238,313 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $161,773,000 after acquiring an additional 6,023,144 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Vale by 328.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 17,349,581 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $153,891,000 after buying an additional 13,298,912 shares during the period. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD increased its stake in Vale by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 11,754,809 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $109,202,000 after buying an additional 1,381,475 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VALE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen initiated coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Vale from $10.50 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Vale from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $11.50 in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $11.00 target price (down from $12.00) on shares of Vale in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Vale from $12.75 to $13.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $11.79.

Vale Stock Performance

NYSE:VALE traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $10.13. 47,687,536 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 33,001,492. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 0.77. Vale S.A. has a twelve month low of $8.06 and a twelve month high of $12.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.58 and a 200 day moving average of $9.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $8.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Vale had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 17.65%. On average, analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Vale Company 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.