DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main Acquires New Shares in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main acquired a new stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 100,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $887,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VALE. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Vale by 68.3% during the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 1,623 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in Vale by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 170,951 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,516,000 after buying an additional 1,797 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in Vale by 215.9% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,780 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc lifted 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 buying an additional 1,938 shares during the period. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its position in Vale by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 9,827 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 2,317 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company's stock.

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VALE traded up $0.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $9.81. The stock had a trading volume of 26,671,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,697,312. Vale S.A. has a one year low of $8.06 and a one year high of $13.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $44.53 billion, a PE ratio of 6.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.83. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $9.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.52.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.02). Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. The firm had revenue of $8.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.3758 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. This is an increase from Vale's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Vale's payout ratio is 54.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on VALE. Bank of America upgraded Vale from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $11.50 in a report on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com began coverage on Vale in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. UBS Group cut their price objective on Vale from $10.50 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. CICC Research began coverage on Vale in a report on Monday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $11.30 price objective on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $11.00 price objective (down from $12.00) on shares of Vale in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $12.04.

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.