Analysts Set Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Price Target at $16.72

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $16.72.

Several research firms recently issued reports on VALE. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Vale from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. UBS Group lowered their price target on Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st.

Vale Stock Performance

NYSE:VALE opened at $10.76 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $48.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.94, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.93. Vale has a fifty-two week low of $9.66 and a fifty-two week high of $16.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $10.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.54.

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. The business had revenue of $9.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.97 billion. Vale had a net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 22.23%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Vale will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th were issued a $0.3698 dividend. This represents a 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

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 24,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 1,712 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Vale by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,965,164 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,029,000 after buying an additional 142,106 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Vale by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 22,770 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 2,707 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 86.5% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 62,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $975,000 after buying an additional 28,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Vale by 60.1% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 104,536 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,658,000 after buying an additional 39,234 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

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.