Vale (NYSE:VALE) Trading Down 0.9%

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) shares fell 0.9% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $10.49 and last traded at $10.49. 1,828,243 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 93% from the average session volume of 26,207,055 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.58.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Vale Stock Performance

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 cap of $47.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.81, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $10.57 and its 200-day moving average is $11.55.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 22.23%. On average, analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Vale

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VALE. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 24,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 1,712 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Vale by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,965,164 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,029,000 after purchasing an additional 142,106 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in Vale by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 22,770 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 2,707 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Vale by 86.5% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 62,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $975,000 after buying an additional 28,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in Vale by 60.1% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 104,536 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,658,000 after buying an additional 39,234 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.