Vale (NYSE:VALE) Stock Price Up 5% After Analyst Upgrade

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)’s share price rose 5% during mid-day trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $16.00 to $18.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Vale traded as high as $14.39 and last traded at $14.38. Approximately 9,626,060 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 21,956,590 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.70.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on VALE. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Vale from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, June 28th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Vale in a research report on Friday, September 8th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Vale in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut shares of Vale from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $13.20 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, June 28th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.02.

Institutional Trading of Vale

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 83.4% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 532,916 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,409,000 after purchasing an additional 242,405 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 5.5% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 733,082 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,568,000 after purchasing an additional 38,202 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 19.2% during the first quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 313,307 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,944,000 after purchasing an additional 50,402 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 4.1% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 22,304,788 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $351,970,000 after purchasing an additional 876,409 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 33.7% during the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 26,980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $425,000 after purchasing an additional 6,800 shares during the period. 16.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vale Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $13.59 and its 200 day moving average is $14.28.

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

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 15th were paid a $0.4056 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 14th. This is a boost from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.35. This represents a yield of 5.1%. Vale’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

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.