Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Receives $12.86 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $12.86.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on VALE shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Vale in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped 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 report on Monday, January 6th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,163,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $418,338,000 after purchasing an additional 10,557,888 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Vale by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 33,995,398 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $301,541,000 after purchasing an additional 5,775,590 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Vale by 49.3% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 18,238,313 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $161,773,000 after purchasing an additional 6,023,144 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 328.3% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 17,349,581 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $153,891,000 after purchasing an additional 13,298,912 shares during the period. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 11,754,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $109,202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381,475 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vale Stock Down 3.1 %

VALE stock opened at $8.80 on Friday. Vale has a twelve month low of $8.38 and a twelve month high of $13.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.92 billion, a PE ratio of 6.11, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.85.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 EPS 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. On average, equities analysts predict that Vale will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.3758 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a yield of 7.5%. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.08%.

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.