U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 8,197 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 164,698 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,197 shares during the quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $2,612,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 423.1% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,951 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Vale in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Vale in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Systematic Alpha Investments LLC bought a new stake in Vale in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Vale by 2,502.8% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 2,728 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of Vale stock traded up $0.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $12.61. 23,144,400 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,811,452. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.12. Vale S.A. has a 1-year low of $11.52 and a 1-year high of $16.08. The company has a market cap of $56.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.97, a PEG ratio of 5.44 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $12.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.71.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.48). Vale had a return on equity of 19.59% and a net margin of 18.72%. The business had revenue of $13.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.3182 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 9.7%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VALE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Vale from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Vale in a research note on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Vale from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $13.00 price target (down from $20.00) on shares of Vale in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Vale in a research report on Saturday, March 30th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.67.

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.