Vale (NYSE:VALE) Cut to “Underperform” at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research lowered shares of Vale (NYSE:VALE) from a peer perform rating to an underperform rating in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. BNP Paribas raised shares of Vale from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $16.17.

Vale Stock Performance

VALE opened at $11.08 on Wednesday. Vale has a 12-month low of $9.66 and a 12-month high of $16.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.67 billion, a PE ratio of 4.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $10.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.39.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The company 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Vale will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were issued a dividend of $0.3698 per share. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. This represents a dividend yield of 12.1%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vale

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VALE. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 60.6% during the second quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 21,969,937 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $245,404,000 after buying an additional 8,288,112 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 395.3% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,152,069 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,889,000 after buying an additional 5,707,969 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 3,952.2% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 3,343,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $40,758,000 after buying an additional 3,261,060 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 110.9% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,459,485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,983,000 after buying an additional 2,871,094 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 27.8% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,853,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $132,408,000 after buying an additional 2,578,900 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.