Vale (NYSE:VALE) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) shares gapped up prior to trading on Monday. The stock had previously closed at $13.76, but opened at $14.72. Vale shares last traded at $14.3160, with a volume of 20,808,644 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on VALE. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Vale in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group cut their target price on Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Vale from $12.00 to $12.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $16.50 price objective (down from $19.50) on shares of Vale in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Vale has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.04.

Vale Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $14.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.34. The stock has a market cap of $63.98 billion, a PE ratio of 28.77 and a beta of 0.42.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.10). Vale had a net margin of 5.11% and a return on equity of 19.87%. The company had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.47 billion. Analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a special dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were issued a $0.3088 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 13th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.80%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vale

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 5.7% during the third quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 19,659 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Vale by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 106,359 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,600,000 after purchasing an additional 11,446 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Vale by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,248,034 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,930,000 after purchasing an additional 410,464 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Vale by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 423,725 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,373,000 after purchasing an additional 55,569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Vale by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 83,074 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,249,000 after buying an additional 6,090 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

About Vale

Vale SA is a Brazil-based global mining company and one of the world’s major producers of iron ore and iron ore pellets, which are used primarily in steelmaking. The company also produces nickel, copper, manganese, coal and other mineral products, serving customers in the steel, energy and technology industries.

Founded in 1942 as Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, the company was privatized in 1997 and adopted the Vale name in 2007. Its operations are concentrated in Brazil, particularly in the states of Pará and Minas Gerais, while its base-metals business has mining and processing activities in countries including Canada and Indonesia.

Vale also operates an integrated logistics system that includes railways, ports and maritime transportation infrastructure used to move its products from mining regions to domestic and international markets.