Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE – Get Free Report)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $13.19, but opened at $12.84. Vale shares last traded at $12.88, with a volume of 7,448,210 shares changing hands.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several brokerages recently issued reports on VALE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $18.00 to $17.00 in a report on Thursday, November 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Vale from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 14th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Vale from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $12.20 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, November 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.98.
Vale Trading Down 2.3 %
The business has a 50 day moving average of $13.93 and a 200 day moving average of $14.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.21 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.96.
Vale (NYSE:VALE – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.48). The company had revenue of $13.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.95 billion. Vale had a net margin of 19.10% and a return on equity of 20.00%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Vale Cuts Dividend
The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th will be paid a $0.3182 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 9.7%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.10%.
Institutional Trading of Vale
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VALE. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Vale by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 72,165,728 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,138,775,000 after purchasing an additional 11,393,498 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Vale by 57.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,763,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $359,214,000 after purchasing an additional 8,334,786 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Vale by 2,830.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,286,695 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,469,000 after purchasing an additional 21,526,055 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Vale by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,752,878 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $237,889,000 after acquiring an additional 3,092,376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Vale by 3.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,799,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $217,752,000 after purchasing an additional 452,290 shares during the last quarter. 16.90% 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.