Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $1.32 Million Stock Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 148,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,788 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Vale were worth $1,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its holdings in Vale by 63.6% during the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 793,898 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,042,000 after acquiring an additional 308,679 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vale during the 4th quarter valued at about $97,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Vale by 41.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 24,628 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 7,159 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Vale in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 3,092 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on VALE shares. Barclays reduced their price objective 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 reduced their price target 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. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group cut shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $11.50 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price 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. 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, Vale has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.26.

Vale Trading Up 3.8 %

NYSE:VALE opened at $9.72 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Vale S.A. has a one year low of $8.38 and a one year high of $13.68. The company has a market cap of $44.10 billion, a PE ratio of 6.75, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.22 and a 200-day moving average of $9.96.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued 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 company had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.03 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.3758 dividend. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. This represents a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 88.89%.

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.