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

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) announced a — dividend on Friday, October 27th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 24th will be paid 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, November 22nd.

Vale has a dividend payout ratio of 26.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:VALE opened at $15.14 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $67.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $13.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.66. Vale has a 12-month low of $12.22 and a 12-month high of $19.31.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.05. Vale had a net margin of 22.84% and a return on equity of 23.82%. The business had revenue of $10.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Vale will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $17.00 in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Vale from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 3rd. Citigroup upgraded Vale from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $16.00 in a report on Monday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Friday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.72.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VALE. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Vale by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 72,165,728 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,138,775,000 after buying an additional 11,393,498 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Vale by 57.8% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,763,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $359,214,000 after acquiring an additional 8,334,786 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Vale by 3.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,799,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $217,752,000 after acquiring an additional 452,290 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 52.3% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 13,783,862 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $184,978,000 after acquiring an additional 4,733,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Vale by 14.2% in the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 7,532,847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $110,206,000 after purchasing an additional 938,320 shares during the last quarter. 16.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Vale

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.