Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Shares Purchased by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,172,389 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 447,561 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.16% of Vale worth $113,754,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Vale by 21.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,752,878 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $237,889,000 after acquiring an additional 3,092,376 shares during the last quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC grew its position in Vale by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 10,837,103 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $171,876,000 after acquiring an additional 75,726 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Vale by 1.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,090,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $135,212,000 after acquiring an additional 111,826 shares during the period. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD grew its position in Vale by 1.7% during the third quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 9,254,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $124,007,000 after buying an additional 150,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oaktree Capital Management LP raised its position in Vale by 11.7% in the third quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 8,694,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $116,505,000 after purchasing an additional 911,385 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VALE. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Vale in a research report on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Vale from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Vale from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective (down from $20.00) on shares of Vale in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.67.

Vale Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE:VALE traded down $0.32 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $12.17. 10,315,507 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 26,701,404. Vale S.A. has a 1-year low of $11.52 and a 1-year high of $16.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $54.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.25 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.74.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.48). Vale had a net margin of 18.72% and a return on equity of 19.59%. The company had revenue of $13.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a $0.3182 dividend. This represents a yield of 9.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is 65.19%.

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.