Natixis Advisors LLC Buys 177,175 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 47.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 551,054 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 177,175 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in Vale were worth $5,500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VALE. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 16,242 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $144,000 after acquiring an additional 3,923 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 716,909 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $6,359,000 after acquiring an additional 15,713 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 94,814 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $841,000 after acquiring an additional 5,928 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,073,716 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $9,524,000 after acquiring an additional 99,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,232,476 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,542,000 after acquiring an additional 123,809 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company's stock.

Vale Stock Up 0.1%

VALE stock opened at $9.86 on Wednesday. Vale S.A. has a twelve month low of $8.06 and a twelve month high of $12.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $44.75 billion, a PE ratio of 8.02 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a 50 day moving average of $9.69 and a 200 day moving average of $9.57.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.16. Vale had a return on equity of 18.14% and a net margin of 14.23%. The company had revenue of $8.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.54 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be given a dividend of $0.3417 per share. This represents a yield of 740.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 13th. Vale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VALE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Vale from $13.00 to $12.50 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $11.00 price target (down previously from $12.00) on shares of Vale in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen initiated coverage on Vale in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Bank of America upgraded Vale from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $11.00 to $11.50 in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, CICC Research initiated coverage on Vale in a report on Monday, May 12th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $11.30 price target on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vale presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $11.84.

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.

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