Vale (NYSE:VALE) Cut to “Neutral” at Bank of America

Bank of America cut shares of Vale (NYSE:VALE) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $18.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $17.00.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on VALE. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Vale in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $16.50 price objective on shares of Vale in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Vale from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $14.20 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Vale from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.38.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of VALE stock opened at $17.18 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Vale has a 12-month low of $8.06 and a 12-month high of $17.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $15.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.80.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported ($0.90) earnings per share (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%. Analysts expect that Vale will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Walser Wealth Management Company A Ltd Liability Co purchased a new stake in Vale in the 4th quarter valued at about $280,000. Vinland Capital Management Gestora de Recursos LTDA. bought a new stake in shares of Vale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $652,000. Larch Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,229,000. Compound Planning Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 26.6% in the fourth quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 96,652 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after purchasing an additional 20,319 shares during the period. Finally, Caitlin John LLC grew its stake in Vale by 85.4% in the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 4,310 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,985 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.