Short Interest in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Drops By 15.0%

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 113,190,000 shares, a decrease of 15.0% from the February 13th total of 133,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 34,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days. Approximately 2.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.26.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Vale by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 24,181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 1,349 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vale by 1.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 158,561 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vale by 68.3% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623 shares during the period. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Vale by 16.8% in the third quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 11,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $140,000 after purchasing an additional 1,725 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Vale by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 170,951 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,516,000 after purchasing an additional 1,797 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of VALE stock traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $10.11. 22,632,008 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 29,172,122. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.91. Vale has a one year low of $8.38 and a one year high of $13.14. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.36). Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. The company had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.03 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Vale will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.3758 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a yield of 7.5%. This is a boost from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.08%.

Vale Company 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.