Vale (NYSE:VALE) Shares Down 2% After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) fell 2% during trading on Friday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $16.00 to $15.50. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Vale traded as low as $10.55 and last traded at $10.55. 2,982,794 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 26,238,063 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.76.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Vale from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.72.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in Vale during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Vale in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Vale in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vale during the second quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Founders Capital Management raised its position in shares of Vale by 111.1% in the first quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 3,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vale Trading Down 2.0 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $47.30 billion, a PE ratio of 5.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $10.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.54. 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 issued its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.97 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

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

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.