Brokerages Set Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Price Target at $16.17

Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $16.15.

Several research firms recently commented on VALE. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Vale from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Vale in a research note on Friday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on Vale from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VALE opened at $10.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $47.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s fifty day moving average is $10.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Vale has a 12-month low of $9.66 and a 12-month high of $16.08.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. Vale had a return on equity of 22.23% and a net margin of 23.07%. The firm had revenue of $9.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.97 billion. Equities analysts expect that Vale will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Vale

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda raised its holdings in Vale by 60.6% in the 2nd quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 21,969,937 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $245,404,000 after acquiring an additional 8,288,112 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Vale by 395.3% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,152,069 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,889,000 after purchasing an additional 5,707,969 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Vale by 3,952.2% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 3,343,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $40,758,000 after purchasing an additional 3,261,060 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Vale by 110.9% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,459,485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $60,983,000 after purchasing an additional 2,871,094 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Vale by 27.8% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,853,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $132,408,000 after buying an additional 2,578,900 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is 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.