Banco Santander S.A. Has $4.46 Million Stock Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Banco Santander S.A. increased its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 32.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 382,082 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 94,585 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Vale were worth $4,463,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. Pacifica Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Vale in the second quarter worth $27,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vale in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vale in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $118,000. Vawter Financial Ltd. bought a new stake in Vale during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $124,000. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Vale during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $125,000. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research cut shares of Vale from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group cut 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. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Vale from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have given 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 $15.13.

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VALE opened at $9.96 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.65 billion, a PE ratio of 4.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.94. Vale S.A. has a 52 week low of $9.66 and a 52 week high of $16.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $10.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.91.

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

Vale Profile

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.