Vale (NYSE:VALE) Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) were up 1.9% on Friday . The company traded as high as $10.57 and last traded at $10.57. Approximately 6,021,071 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 26,309,104 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.37.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VALE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Vale from $18.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. BNP Paribas raised shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Vale from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.72.

Vale Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $10.63 and a 200-day moving average of $11.64.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $9.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.97 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 22.23% and a net margin of 23.07%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.3698 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. This is a boost from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.32. This represents a dividend yield of 12.1%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VALE. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Vale in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vale during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Vale during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vale in the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Founders Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 111.1% during the 1st quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 3,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.