Scotiabank Trims Vale (NYSE:VALE) Target Price to $16.00

Vale (NYSE:VALE) had its price target decreased by Scotiabank from $17.00 to $16.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on VALE. BNP Paribas upgraded Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group decreased their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Vale from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.15.

Vale Stock Down 2.3 %

NYSE:VALE opened at $10.73 on Tuesday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $10.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.36. Vale has a 1-year low of $9.66 and a 1-year high of $16.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.93, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.93.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Vale had a return on equity of 22.23% and a net margin of 23.07%. The business had revenue of $9.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.97 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Vale will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Vale

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VALE. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in Vale by 109.1% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 101,406 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,236,000 after acquiring an additional 52,906 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Vale by 395.3% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,152,069 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,889,000 after purchasing an additional 5,707,969 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vale in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,379,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its position in Vale by 10.4% during the second quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 5,398,881 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,690,000 after buying an additional 508,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Vale by 180.4% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 683,428 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,331,000 after buying an additional 439,733 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.