Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Announces $0.15 — Dividend

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) announced a — dividend on Friday, October 27th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 24th will be given a dividend of 0.1541 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, December 8th. This represents a dividend yield of 8.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 22nd.

Vale has a payout ratio of 26.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Vale to earn $2.49 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.63 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.3%.

Vale Stock Performance

NYSE:VALE opened at $15.65 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $13.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.67. Vale has a twelve month low of $12.22 and a twelve month high of $19.31. The stock has a market cap of $70.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.49 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $10.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.52 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 23.82% and a net margin of 22.84%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Vale will post 2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $18.00 in a report on Friday, July 28th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Vale from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 3rd. StockNews.com raised Vale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 7th. Bank of America raised Vale from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Vale from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.02.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vale

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Vale by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 45,698 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $612,000 after buying an additional 2,032 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in shares of Vale in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $640,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Vale by 508.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,482 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 2,910 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Vale by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 20,245 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 1,727 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Vale by 229.0% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 356,642 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,786,000 after buying an additional 248,239 shares during the last quarter. 16.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.