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

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 48,179 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 51% compared to the average volume of 31,919 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $11.00 price objective (down from $12.00) on shares of Vale in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Vale from $10.50 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America upgraded Vale from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $11.50 in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Wall Street Zen initiated coverage on Vale in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Finally, CICC Research initiated coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Monday, May 12th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $11.30 price target on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vale presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $12.04.

Institutional Trading of Vale

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in Vale by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 166,125 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,658,000 after purchasing an additional 34,185 shares during the period. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Vale in the first quarter valued at approximately $117,000. Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Vale by 25.5% in the first quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 156,586 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,563,000 after buying an additional 31,830 shares in the last quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. raised its stake in shares of Vale by 15.3% during the 1st quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. now owns 18,932 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $189,000 after buying an additional 2,517 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vale during the 1st quarter worth approximately $171,000. 21.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vale Stock Performance

Vale stock traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $9.48. 87,639,261 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 31,915,045. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.03 billion, a PE ratio of 6.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.76. Vale has a fifty-two week low of $8.06 and a fifty-two week high of $12.05.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.39 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 17.65% and a net margin of 15.54%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vale will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

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.