Vale (NYSE:VALE) Price Target Lowered to $15.50 at Morgan Stanley

Vale (NYSE:VALE) had its price target cut by Morgan Stanley from $18.00 to $15.50 in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. UBS Group raised Vale from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $13.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. BNP Paribas raised Vale from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Vale from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Vale in a research report on Saturday, March 30th. They set a buy rating for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vale has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $16.55.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VALE opened at $11.24 on Friday. Vale has a fifty-two week low of $11.02 and a fifty-two week high of $16.08. The business has a 50-day moving average of $12.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.21, a P/E/G ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.03). Vale had a return on equity of 19.59% and a net margin of 18.72%. The company had revenue of $8.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Vale will post 2.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vale

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vale by 85.1% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 491,207 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,791,000 after purchasing an additional 225,806 shares during the period. Oaktree Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Vale by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 9,399,887 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $149,082,000 after purchasing an additional 705,520 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vale by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 10,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $160,000 after purchasing an additional 932 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Vale by 49,161.5% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,440,413 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,705,000 after purchasing an additional 2,435,459 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp bought a new stake in shares of Vale in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $190,000. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.