Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Shares Bought by Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 328.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,349,581 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,298,912 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Vale were worth $153,891,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VALE. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Vale during the third quarter valued at $80,300,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its stake in Vale by 123.4% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 12,059,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $140,859,000 after purchasing an additional 6,660,933 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 106.0% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 9,721,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $86,226,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,228 shares during the period. Fourth Sail Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Vale in the fourth quarter worth about $31,305,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 9,965,672 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $88,396,000 after purchasing an additional 2,014,652 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Stock Down 1.1 %

Vale stock opened at $10.06 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.64 billion, a PE ratio of 6.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.89. Vale S.A. has a 12 month low of $8.38 and a 12 month high of $13.14.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued 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). The company had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.03 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. On average, analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.3758 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. This represents a yield of 7.5%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research raised Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.26.

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.