Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Short Interest Update

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) saw a significant decrease in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 72,920,000 shares, a decrease of 19.3% from the September 30th total of 90,410,000 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 29,820,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Vale by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 13,627 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 987 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vale by 6.9% in the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 17,932 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Vale by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 62,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Vale by 6.8% in the first quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 19,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFG Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Vale by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 22,702 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Stock Up 3.7 %

NYSE VALE traded up $0.39 on Friday, reaching $10.88. 59,680,172 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 27,312,193. Vale has a 12 month low of $9.66 and a 12 month high of $16.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company has a market cap of $48.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.01, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $10.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.28.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $9.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.97 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 22.23% and a net margin of 23.07%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Vale will post 2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on VALE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Vale from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Vale from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Vale in a report on Friday, October 18th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.15.

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.