Vale (NYSE:VALE) Shares Gap Up to $10.40

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $10.40, but opened at $10.98. Vale shares last traded at $11.08, with a volume of 8,346,898 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VALE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. UBS Group lowered their target price 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 decreased their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 19th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Vale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.17.

Vale Stock Up 6.6 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $10.49 and a 200-day moving average of $11.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $49.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.93.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $9.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.97 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 22.23% and a net margin of 23.07%. On average, equities analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.3698 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 12.1%. 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. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is 64.09%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Vale during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,360,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Vale during the 2nd quarter worth about $429,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda raised its stake in Vale by 60.6% in the second quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 21,969,937 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $245,404,000 after buying an additional 8,288,112 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 138,509 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,547,000 after acquiring an additional 6,173 shares during the period. Finally, Impala Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Vale in the second quarter worth about $1,676,000. 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.