Vale (NYSE:VALE) Stock Price Down 0.9%

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group cut their price target on Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Vale from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.72.

Vale Price Performance

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 firm has a market capitalization of $48.24 billion, a PE ratio of 5.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50 day moving average is $10.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.54.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced 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 company had revenue of $9.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.97 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.32. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is 64.09%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Vale during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vale in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Vale by 16,947.4% during the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 3,239 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 3,220 shares during the period. Finally, Founders Capital Management boosted its stake in Vale by 111.1% during the first 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. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

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.