Traders Buy High Volume of Vale Call Options (NYSE:VALE)

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 59,098 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 64% compared to the average daily volume of 36,140 call options.

Vale Trading Up 3.7 %

NYSE VALE opened at $10.88 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $48.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.93. Vale has a 12 month low of $9.66 and a 12 month high of $16.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a 50-day moving average of $10.76 and a 200-day moving average of $11.28.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Vale had a net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 22.23%. The firm had revenue of $9.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.97 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Vale will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Vale

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vale in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Vale during the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Vale by 133.7% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 6,629 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 3,792 shares during the period. Deuterium Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vale in the first quarter worth $122,000. Finally, Vawter Financial Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Vale in the 2nd quarter valued at $124,000. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VALE has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Vale from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Wolfe Research downgraded Vale from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.15.

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.