Northwest Bancshares Inc. Invests $4.66 Million in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Northwest Bancshares Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 399,207 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,663,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in Vale during the first quarter worth about $493,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Vale by 28.6% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 182,222 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,221,000 after buying an additional 40,485 shares during the period. Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. grew its position in Vale by 2.0% during the first quarter. Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. now owns 116,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,425,000 after buying an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Capital International Ltd. CA grew its position in Vale by 5.7% during the first quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 699,591 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,528,000 after buying an additional 37,577 shares during the period. Finally, Cloverfields Capital Group LP grew its position in Vale by 2.1% during the first quarter. Cloverfields Capital Group LP now owns 169,673 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,068,000 after buying an additional 3,421 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of VALE opened at $10.01 on Wednesday. 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 capitalization of $44.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.63, a PEG ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.07. Vale S.A. has a 1 year low of $9.66 and a 1 year high of $16.08.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $9.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.61 billion. Vale had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 21.07%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on VALE shares. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Vale from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. 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 report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.