Rhumbline Advisers Has $1.17 Million Stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 131,940 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 7,910 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Vale were worth $1,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in shares of Vale by 3,692.5% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 18,200,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $212,576,000 after acquiring an additional 17,720,100 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Vale during the 3rd quarter worth $80,300,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings 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 worth $140,859,000 after buying an additional 6,660,933 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Vale by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,605,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $427,550,000 after buying an additional 5,635,167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 5,001,228 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on VALE. UBS Group lowered 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 note on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.96. Vale S.A. has a 12 month low of $8.38 and a 12 month high of $13.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.75, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its 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). Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. The firm had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.03 billion. Analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.3758 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.