Vale (NYSE:VALE) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Vale from a "hold" to a "buy" rating in a report released Saturday.
• Analysts remain mixed but the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a consensus price target of $15.18 (1 Strong Buy, 6 Buy, 6 Hold, 1 Sell).
• Vale reported a significant EPS miss (reported ($0.90) vs. $0.52 expected) while beating revenue at $11.06 billion; the shares trade around $15.03 and the company has a market cap of about $68.2 billion.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on VALE. Zacks Research lowered shares of Vale from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut Vale from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $14.50 to $15.50 in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Bank of America cut Vale from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a "cautious" rating and set a $15.50 price objective on shares of Vale in a report on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Vale from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $15.18.

Vale Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of VALE opened at $15.03 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $15.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.83 and a beta of 0.52. Vale has a 12-month low of $8.06 and a 12-month high of $17.72.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported ($0.90) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($1.42). Vale had a return on equity of 20.16% and a net margin of 6.12%.The company had revenue of $11.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.86 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Vale will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VALE. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Vale in the 3rd quarter worth $20,754,000. Advisory Resource Group bought a new stake in Vale during the third quarter valued at about $1,434,000. Ninety One North America Inc. grew its stake in Vale by 35.6% in the third quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 3,377,582 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,681,000 after purchasing an additional 886,214 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Vale by 5.3% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 20,080,222 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $194,978,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC raised its holdings in Vale by 493.9% in the third quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 308,126 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,346,000 after purchasing an additional 256,244 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Vale

Vale SA is a Brazilian multinational mining company and one of the world's largest producers of iron ore and iron ore pellets. In addition to iron ore, the company produces and sells a range of bulk commodities and metals, including nickel, copper, coal, manganese, ferroalloys and cobalt, and it participates in the fertilizer inputs market. Vale also operates extensive logistics assets — including rail, port and maritime logistics — that support its mining and export activities and provide services to third parties in some regions.

Headquartered in Brazil, Vale maintains a global operational footprint with mining, processing and shipping activities across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

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