Stephens Inc. AR Purchases New Shares in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Stephens Inc. AR acquired a new position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 21,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in shares of Vale by 3,692.5% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 18,200,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $212,576,000 after acquiring an additional 17,720,100 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Vale during the 3rd quarter valued at $80,300,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 123.4% in the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 12,059,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $140,859,000 after purchasing an additional 6,660,933 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Vale by 18.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,605,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $427,550,000 after buying an additional 5,635,167 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 106.0% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 9,721,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $86,226,000 after buying an additional 5,001,228 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vale Stock Performance

VALE opened at $9.78 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $44.37 billion, a PE ratio of 4.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.08 and a 200-day moving average of $10.00. Vale S.A. has a 52-week low of $8.38 and a 52-week high of $13.77.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VALE. StockNews.com started coverage on Vale in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group cut shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $14.00 to $11.50 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vale has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.26.

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.