Tepp RIA LLC Buys Shares of 17,672 Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Tepp RIA LLC bought a new position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 17,672 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its holdings in Vale by 215.9% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,780 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 206.4% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Vale in the third quarter worth $28,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of Vale by 3,092.0% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 3,192 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 3,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Vale during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vale Stock Up 0.3 %

VALE opened at $10.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.06, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $9.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.90. Vale S.A. has a twelve month low of $8.38 and a twelve month high of $13.14. 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 (NYSE:VALE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.36). The company had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.03 billion. Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. Equities research analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on VALE. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Vale in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vale has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.26.

Vale 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.