Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $13.26.

Several research firms have recently commented on VALE. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VALE. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 215.9% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,780 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Vale by 206.4% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Vale in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in Vale by 3,092.0% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 3,192 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 3,092 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Vale in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VALE opened at $9.83 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Vale has a 1-year low of $8.38 and a 1-year high of $13.14. The company has a market capitalization of $44.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.91.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.36). Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. The firm had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.03 billion. Research analysts expect that Vale will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.3758 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

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.