9,000 Shares in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Purchased by Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp.

Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $80,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Vale by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 735,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,523,000 after purchasing an additional 64,448 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Vale by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,336,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,598,000 after buying an additional 260,550 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Vale during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,260,000. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new position in Vale during the fourth quarter worth about $209,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Vale by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 254,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,255,000 after acquiring an additional 16,015 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VALE has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research raised Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vale presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.26.

Vale Price Performance

VALE opened at $10.08 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.00, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.48 and a 200-day moving average of $9.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Vale S.A. has a 12-month low of $8.38 and a 12-month high of $13.14.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.36). The business had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.03 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. Equities analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.3758 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. This represents a yield of 7.5%. Vale’s payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

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.