Vale (NYSE:VALE) PT Lowered to $15.50 at Morgan Stanley

Vale (NYSE:VALE) had its price target trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $16.00 to $15.50 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Vale from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of 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 lowered Vale from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $16.72.

Vale Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of NYSE:VALE opened at $10.40 on Thursday. Vale has a 52-week low of $9.66 and a 52-week high of $16.08. The company has a market capitalization of $46.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $9.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.97 billion. Vale had a net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 22.23%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Vale will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a $0.3698 dividend. This is a boost from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. This represents a dividend yield of 12.1%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.09%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vale

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its position in Vale by 6.9% in the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 17,932 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Vale by 1.9% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 62,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 19,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Vale by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 22,702 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Vale by 3.0% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 48,109 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $586,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.