Vale (NYSE:VALE) Shares Gap Up to $13.17

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $13.17, but opened at $13.73. Vale shares last traded at $13.72, with a volume of 5,113,944 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on VALE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Vale from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $15.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com started coverage on Vale in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Vale in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $18.00 in a report on Friday, July 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Vale from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $17.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.82.

Vale Trading Up 6.2 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $13.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.46.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $9.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.82 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 28.86% and a net margin of 27.29%. Equities research analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.89 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 15th will be paid a $0.4056 dividend. This is a boost from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.35. This represents a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 14th. Vale’s payout ratio is 28.63%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Vale by 93.2% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 31,188,702 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $529,272,000 after purchasing an additional 15,047,063 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Vale by 18.7% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 72,165,728 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,138,775,000 after purchasing an additional 11,393,498 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Vale by 57.8% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,763,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $359,214,000 after purchasing an additional 8,334,786 shares during the period. Credit Suisse AG grew its stake in Vale by 237.4% in the second quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 9,109,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $122,254,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410,009 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Vale by 52.3% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 13,783,862 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $184,978,000 after acquiring an additional 4,733,169 shares in the last quarter. 16.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.