Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $16.72.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group cut their target price on Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Vale from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of Vale stock opened at $10.40 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.93. Vale has a twelve month low of $9.66 and a twelve month high of $16.08. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.51.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $9.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.97 billion. Vale had a net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 22.23%. Analysts forecast that Vale will post 2.13 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.3698 per share. This represents a yield of 12.1%. This is a boost from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.09%.

Institutional Trading of Vale

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 85.1% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 491,207 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,791,000 after acquiring an additional 225,806 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 109.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 101,406 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,236,000 after purchasing an additional 52,906 shares in the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 9,399,887 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $149,082,000 after purchasing an additional 705,520 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vale in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,379,000. Finally, Contrarian Capital Management L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of Vale by 25.7% in the fourth quarter. Contrarian Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 2,077,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,955,000 after buying an additional 425,383 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

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.