Vale (NYSE:VALE) Price Target Cut to $15.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) had its target price lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $16.50 to $15.00 in a report issued on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. BNP Paribas raised Vale from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Vale from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $16.17.

Vale Trading Up 5.7 %

Shares of NYSE VALE opened at $11.80 on Monday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $10.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.45. Vale has a fifty-two week low of $9.66 and a fifty-two week high of $16.08. The company has a market cap of $52.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.52, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.93.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $9.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.97 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 22.23% and a net margin of 23.07%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vale will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VALE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Vale by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,965,164 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,029,000 after buying an additional 142,106 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Vale by 60.1% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 104,536 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,658,000 after purchasing an additional 39,234 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in shares of Vale in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,246,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vale by 85.1% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 491,207 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,791,000 after purchasing an additional 225,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Vale by 73.5% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 59,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 25,254 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

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.