Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Vale (NYSE:VALE)

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE – Get Rating) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors bought 108,898 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 134% compared to the average volume of 46,522 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VALE. Bank of New Hampshire grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 74.1% during the third quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 2,525 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Vale during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Vale by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 1,738 shares during the period. Money Concepts Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Vale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Vale by 277.3% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 2,773 shares during the last quarter. 20.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on VALE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Vale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Vale from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $14.50 to $20.00 in a report on Friday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $20.00 in a report on Thursday, December 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $17.50 in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.85.

Vale Stock Up 1.4 %

Vale stock opened at $15.94 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $73.18 billion, a PE ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $17.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.51. Vale has a 1-year low of $11.72 and a 1-year high of $21.29.

Vale (NYSE:VALE – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The basic materials company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.19. Vale had a return on equity of 43.41% and a net margin of 42.86%. The business had revenue of $11.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.51 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vale will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a $0.3542 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a dividend yield of 6.1%. This is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.47%.

About Vale

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Vale SA engages in the production and exportation of iron ore, pellets, manganese, and iron alloys. It operates through the following segments: Ferrous Minerals, Base Metals, and Coal. The Ferrous Minerals segment includes the production and extraction of iron ore, iron ore pellets, manganese, other ferrous products, and logistic services.