Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Shares Bought by Banco Santander S.A.

Banco Santander S.A. lifted its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 32.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 382,082 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring 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.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vale during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vale during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Keynote Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vale during the 1st quarter worth approximately $126,000. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vale in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $118,000. Finally, Vawter Financial Ltd. purchased a new position in Vale in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $124,000. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on VALE. Wolfe Research downgraded Vale from a "peer perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com began coverage on Vale in a research note on Friday, October 18th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Vale from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $11.50 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $15.13.

Vale Price Performance

Vale stock traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $10.01. 19,120,826 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 27,480,199. The company has a market capitalization of $44.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.63, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.94. 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 S.A. has a 12-month low of $9.66 and a 12-month high of $16.08. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $10.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.04.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.15. The business 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 previous year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. Analysts forecast 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.