Vale (NYSE:VALE) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Vale (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Vale from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $14.00 to $11.50 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Vale currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $13.26.

Vale Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Vale stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $9.35. The stock had a trading volume of 27,466,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,330,727. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.97. The firm has a market cap of $42.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Vale has a 12-month low of $8.38 and a 12-month high of $13.68.

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

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.3758 dividend. This is a boost from Vale's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Vale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.89%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VALE. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 24,181 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $214,000 after buying an additional 1,349 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its holdings in Vale by 5.0% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 28,754 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 1,375 shares in the last quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Vale by 13.5% in the third quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 11,737 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $137,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Vale by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 158,561 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Vale by 68.3% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,623 shares in 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.