Ellsworth Advisors LLC Takes Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 124,756 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,107,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake 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 worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Vale by 14.1% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 4,330 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Vale by 10.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,005,525 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,741,000 after acquiring an additional 363,783 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vale by 59.1% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 175,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,962,000 after acquiring an additional 65,247 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Vale by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,497,507 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,727,000 after acquiring an additional 91,388 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of Vale stock opened at $8.95 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $9.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.27. Vale S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $8.38 and a fifty-two week high of $14.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $9.61 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VALE. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group downgraded Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $14.00 to $11.50 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vale has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.89.

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.