Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Shares Sold by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 31.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 266,518 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 123,456 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $2,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Vale during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. 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 valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in Vale by 206.4% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Vale during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew 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 valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 3,092 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Vale Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of VALE stock opened at $10.14 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.89. 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 1-year low of $8.38 and a 1-year high of $13.14. The firm has a market cap of $46.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.04, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly 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). Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. The company had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.03 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.3758 per share. This represents a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale’s payout ratio is 52.08%.

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.