Vale (NYSE:VALE) Trading Down 2% Following Analyst Downgrade

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)’s stock price fell 2% during mid-day trading on Friday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $16.00 to $15.50. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Vale traded as low as $10.55 and last traded at $10.55. 2,982,794 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 26,238,063 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.76.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on VALE. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Wolfe Research cut shares of Vale from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.72.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VALE. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in Vale in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,360,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Vale in the second quarter valued at $429,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda lifted its position in Vale by 60.6% during the second quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 21,969,937 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $245,404,000 after buying an additional 8,288,112 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Vale by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 138,509 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,547,000 after buying an additional 6,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impala Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vale in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,676,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Stock Down 3.3 %

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company has a market cap of $46.62 billion, a PE ratio of 5.75, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.93.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. Vale had a net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 22.23%. The firm had revenue of $9.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.97 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were issued a dividend of $0.3698 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 12.1%. This is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.09%.

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.