Vale (NYSE:VALE) Price Target Raised to $17.00

Vale (NYSE:VALE) had its target price raised by Barclays from $16.00 to $17.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

VALE has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $13.00 price objective (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Vale in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Vale in a research report on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Vale from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Vale in a research report on Saturday, March 30th. They set a buy rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Vale from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $16.67.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VALE opened at $11.84 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $53.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.77. Vale has a fifty-two week low of $11.52 and a fifty-two week high of $16.08.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.48). Vale had a net margin of 19.10% and a return on equity of 20.00%. The company had revenue of $13.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Vale will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a $0.3182 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 9.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.48%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 11,393,498 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 57.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,763,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $359,214,000 after purchasing an additional 8,334,786 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 2,830.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,286,695 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,469,000 after purchasing an additional 21,526,055 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Vale by 21.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,752,878 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $237,889,000 after buying an additional 3,092,376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Vale by 3.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,799,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $217,752,000 after buying an additional 452,290 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% 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.