Vale (NYSE:VALE) Stock Price Up 0.2%

Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) were up 0.2% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $10.63 and last traded at $10.53. Approximately 3,428,485 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 26,325,240 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.51.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VALE shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Vale from $18.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. BNP Paribas upgraded Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Vale from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.72.

Vale Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $47.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $10.57 and a 200 day moving average of $11.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $9.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.97 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. This represents a yield of 12.1%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.09%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $245,404,000 after purchasing an additional 8,288,112 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,315,171 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $195,319,000 after purchasing an additional 2,224,756 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 12,269,261 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $149,561,000 after purchasing an additional 485,702 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,578,900 shares during the period. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 10,950,729 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $118,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,854,940 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

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.