Vale (NYSE:VALE) PT Lowered to $15.50

Vale (NYSE:VALE) had its price objective cut by Morgan Stanley from $16.00 to $15.50 in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Vale from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. UBS Group reduced their price target on Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Vale from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $16.72.

Vale Stock Performance

VALE opened at $10.40 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.51. The company has a market capitalization of $46.62 billion, a PE ratio of 5.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.93. Vale has a 1 year low of $9.66 and a 1 year 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.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $9.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.97 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 22.23% and a net margin of 23.07%. Research analysts expect that Vale will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.3698 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 12.1%. This is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.09%.

Institutional Trading of Vale

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vale by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 17,932 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $200,000 after buying an additional 1,154 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Vale by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 62,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $693,000 after buying an additional 1,187 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Vale by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 19,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 1,226 shares during the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Vale by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 22,702 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $254,000 after buying an additional 1,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Vale by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 48,109 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.