Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $12.86.

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley cut Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research raised Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com began coverage on Vale in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vale

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VALE. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in Vale by 274.4% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 162,453 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,915,000 after acquiring an additional 119,061 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new stake in Vale during the third quarter valued at about $1,126,000. Flow Traders U.S. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vale in the third quarter worth $369,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Vale during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 50.3% in the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 15,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $177,000 after buying an additional 5,081 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Trading Down 6.5 %

Vale stock opened at $9.10 on Friday. Vale has a 12-month low of $8.38 and a 12-month high of $13.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.28 billion, a PE ratio of 6.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.88.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.36). The firm had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.03 billion. Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vale will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.3758 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.08%.

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.