Traders Buy Large Volume of Vale Call Options (NYSE:VALE)

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 49,375 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 52% compared to the typical daily volume of 32,531 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new stake in Vale during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 68.3% during the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Vale by 98.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,075 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 2,021 shares during the period. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Vale in the first quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vale by 193.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,119 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 2,713 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company's stock.

Vale Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE VALE traded down $0.01 on Friday, reaching $9.81. 20,718,166 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 33,247,472. Vale has a fifty-two week low of $8.06 and a fifty-two week high of $12.05. The company has a 50 day moving average of $9.63 and a 200 day moving average of $9.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.50 billion, a PE ratio of 7.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. CICC Research assumed coverage on shares of Vale in a research report on Monday, May 12th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $11.30 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $11.00 price objective (down from $12.00) on shares of Vale in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Vale from $12.75 to $13.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Vale from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $11.00 to $11.50 in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Vale from $10.50 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $11.79.

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.