Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Vale (NYSE:VALE)

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders purchased 147,090 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 59% compared to the typical volume of 92,775 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in Vale by 59.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 97,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $947,000 after purchasing an additional 36,372 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its holdings in Vale by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 529,967 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,019,000 after buying an additional 55,543 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Vale by 37.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,463,665 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,608,000 after buying an additional 401,614 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Vale during the third quarter worth $20,754,000. Finally, Ascent Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 197.2% during the first quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 59,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $598,000 after buying an additional 39,791 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VALE. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Vale from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Vale to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Vale in a research note on Monday, December 15th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Vale from $12.25 to $13.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $11.50 target price on shares of Vale in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.04.

Vale Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:VALE traded down $0.30 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $12.94. The stock had a trading volume of 24,103,853 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,054,301. The company has a market cap of $58.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 0.57. Vale has a 12 month low of $8.06 and a 12 month high of $13.62. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.14. Vale had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The firm had revenue of $10.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.39 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vale will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.2331 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.23%.

Vale Company Profile

Vale SA is a Brazilian multinational mining company and one of the world’s largest producers of iron ore and iron ore pellets. In addition to iron ore, the company produces and sells a range of bulk commodities and metals, including nickel, copper, coal, manganese, ferroalloys and cobalt, and it participates in the fertilizer inputs market. Vale also operates extensive logistics assets — including rail, port and maritime logistics — that support its mining and export activities and provide services to third parties in some regions.

Headquartered in Brazil, Vale maintains a global operational footprint with mining, processing and shipping activities across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.