Analysts Set Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Price Target at $13.38

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $13.7308.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VALE. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Vale from $13.80 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley set a $11.50 price target on shares of Vale in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. HSBC upped their price target on shares of Vale from $12.25 to $13.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Vale to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Vale from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $11.00 to $14.20 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th.

Vale Trading Down 5.3%

Shares of VALE stock opened at $16.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $72.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.35, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.53. Vale has a 1 year low of $8.06 and a 1 year high of $17.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $13.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.86.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.14. Vale had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 14.69%.The company had revenue of $10.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.39 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Vale will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a $0.2331 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is 67.69%.

Institutional Trading of Vale

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Vale by 1,534.8% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,810,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $240,908,000 after buying an additional 23,292,629 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD purchased a new position in shares of Vale in the third quarter worth $123,532,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Vale by 77.8% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 20,809,302 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $271,145,000 after acquiring an additional 9,103,727 shares during the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda grew its stake in Vale by 303.8% during the third quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 11,068,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $120,203,000 after acquiring an additional 8,327,112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its stake in Vale by 13.3% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 56,457,332 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $613,086,000 after acquiring an additional 6,643,125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

About Vale

Vale SA is a Brazilian multinational mining company and one of the world’s largest producers of iron ore and iron ore pellets. In addition to iron ore, the company produces and sells a range of bulk commodities and metals, including nickel, copper, coal, manganese, ferroalloys and cobalt, and it participates in the fertilizer inputs market. Vale also operates extensive logistics assets — including rail, port and maritime logistics — that support its mining and export activities and provide services to third parties in some regions.

Headquartered in Brazil, Vale maintains a global operational footprint with mining, processing and shipping activities across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.