Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Shares Sold by AIA Group Ltd

AIA Group Ltd lessened its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 31.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 120,617 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 54,778 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd's holdings in Vale were worth $1,409,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. Csenge Advisory Group grew its position in Vale by 18.4% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 13,769 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $168,000 after acquiring an additional 2,144 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Vale by 3.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,406,119 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $17,141,000 after buying an additional 49,894 shares during the period. Donoghue Forlines LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vale during the first quarter worth $632,000. Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Vale by 6.8% during the first quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 19,277 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 1,226 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Vale by 457.3% during the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 449,738 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,482,000 after buying an additional 369,041 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vale Stock Down 5.5 %

Vale stock traded down $0.62 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $10.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 59,281,468 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,393,584. Vale S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $9.66 and a fifty-two week high of $16.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $47.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.21.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $9.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.61 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VALE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Wolfe Research lowered Vale from a "peer perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com began coverage on Vale in a report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on Vale from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vale has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $16.17.

Vale Company 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.