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

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Vale (NYSE:VALE – Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

VALE has been the topic of a number of other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Vale from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Vale from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $16.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Monday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Vale from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $17.50 in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Vale from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and increased their target price for the stock from $14.50 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, December 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $17.85.

Vale Trading Up 1.3 %

VALE opened at $15.79 on Thursday. Vale has a fifty-two week low of $11.72 and a fifty-two week high of $21.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $17.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.54.

Vale (NYSE:VALE – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The basic materials company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.19. Vale had a net margin of 42.86% and a return on equity of 43.41%. The company had revenue of $11.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.51 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Vale will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.3542 per share. This is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a yield of 6.1%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.53%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New Hampshire raised its holdings in shares of Vale by 74.1% in the third quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 2,525 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Vale in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vale by 133.7% in the fourth quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 1,738 shares during the last quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Vale in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vale by 277.3% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 2,773 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.58% of the company’s stock.

About Vale

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Vale SA engages in the production and exportation of iron ore, pellets, manganese, and iron alloys. It operates through the following segments: Ferrous Minerals, Base Metals, and Coal. The Ferrous Minerals segment includes the production and extraction of iron ore, iron ore pellets, manganese, other ferrous products, and logistic services.