West Family Investments Inc. Grows Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

West Family Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 20.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,256 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,431 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Vale were worth $237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of VALE. Pacifica Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vale during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vale during the second quarter worth $45,000. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vale during the third quarter worth $118,000. Vawter Financial Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Vale in the second quarter worth $124,000. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vale in the second quarter valued at $125,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of Vale stock opened at $10.01 on Wednesday. Vale S.A. has a 12 month low of $9.66 and a 12 month high of $16.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.88 billion, a PE ratio of 4.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $10.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.15. Vale had a return on equity of 21.07% and a net margin of 22.59%. The business had revenue of $9.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group lowered shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $11.50 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Vale from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Vale from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.83.

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.