Vale (NYSE:VALE) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Vale (NYSE:VALE) in a research report released on Tuesday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on VALE. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.26.

Vale Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE VALE opened at $10.07 on Tuesday. Vale has a 1 year low of $8.38 and a 1 year high of $13.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company has a market capitalization of $45.71 billion, a PE ratio of 6.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average of $9.53 and a 200 day moving average of $9.89.

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

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.3758 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. This represents a yield of 7.5%. Vale’s payout ratio is 52.08%.

Institutional Trading of Vale

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VALE. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 28.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,163,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $418,338,000 after purchasing an additional 10,557,888 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Vale by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 33,995,398 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $301,541,000 after buying an additional 5,775,590 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Vale by 49.3% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 18,238,313 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $161,773,000 after buying an additional 6,023,144 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in shares of Vale by 3,692.5% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 18,200,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $212,576,000 after acquiring an additional 17,720,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Vale by 10.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,404,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $203,290,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,544 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.