Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Stock Holdings Cut by Moneda S.A. Administradora General de Fondos

Moneda S.A. Administradora General de Fondos reduced its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 36.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,614,394 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 931,103 shares during the period. Vale makes up approximately 14.9% of Moneda S.A. Administradora General de Fondos’ portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Moneda S.A. Administradora General de Fondos’ holdings in Vale were worth $14,320,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VALE. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Vale by 3,692.5% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 18,200,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $212,576,000 after buying an additional 17,720,100 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Vale during the third quarter worth about $80,300,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in Vale by 123.4% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 12,059,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $140,859,000 after purchasing an additional 6,660,933 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Vale by 18.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,605,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $427,550,000 after purchasing an additional 5,635,167 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Vale by 106.0% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 9,721,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $86,226,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,228 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $11.50 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vale presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.26.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VALE opened at $9.40 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Vale S.A. has a twelve month low of $8.38 and a twelve month high of $13.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $9.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.97. The stock has a market cap of $42.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.91.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.36). Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. The company had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.03 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.3758 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is 88.89%.

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.