Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Increases Holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 123.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,059,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 6,660,933 shares during the quarter. Vale accounts for about 4.6% of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings in Vale were worth $140,859,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacifica Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vale during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Vale in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Vale in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC acquired a new stake in Vale during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $118,000. Finally, Vawter Financial Ltd. purchased a new stake in Vale in the 2nd quarter worth $124,000. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VALE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Vale in a research note on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Vale from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group lowered Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $14.00 to $11.50 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vale currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.13.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of VALE opened at $9.79 on Tuesday. Vale S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $9.64 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 $43.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.53, a PEG ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $10.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.93.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Vale had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 21.07%. The firm had revenue of $9.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 2.13 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.