Vale (NYSE:VALE) Stock Price Up 0.2%

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)’s stock price rose 0.2% on Monday . The company traded as high as $10.63 and last traded at $10.53. Approximately 3,428,485 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 26,325,240 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.51.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VALE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report 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 report on Friday, July 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Vale from $18.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Vale from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Vale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.72.

Vale Stock Down 0.5 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $47.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.81, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $10.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.55.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Vale had a return on equity of 22.23% and a net margin of 23.07%. The business had revenue of $9.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.97 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.3698 per share. This represents a yield of 12.1%. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. Vale’s payout ratio is currently 64.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Vale during the second quarter valued at about $429,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda increased its stake in Vale by 60.6% during the second quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 21,969,937 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $245,404,000 after acquiring an additional 8,288,112 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Vale by 4.7% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 138,509 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,547,000 after acquiring an additional 6,173 shares during the period. Impala Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Vale during the second quarter valued at about $1,676,000. Finally, Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Vale by 46.7% during the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 28,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $314,000 after acquiring an additional 8,941 shares during the period. 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.