Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Decreases Position in Vale S.A. $VALE

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD significantly reduced its stake in Vale S.A. by **76.4%**, selling over **25 million shares** during the first quarter.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Vale, with **five analysts rating it as a Buy** while five rated it as a Hold, leading to a current average rating of **"Moderate Buy."**
• Vale recently declared a dividend of **$0.3417 per share**, which will yield **740.0%**, with the dividend payout ratio at **58.54%**.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD decreased its holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 76.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,018,251 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 25,977,147 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.18% of Vale worth $80,023,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 25,876 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 1,248 shares during the last quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 24,181 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $214,000 after buying an additional 1,349 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 17,278 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $172,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,951 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 1,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 1.1% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company's stock.

Vale Trading Up 0.1%

Vale stock traded up $0.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $10.27. The company had a trading volume of 15,104,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,588,130. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Vale S.A. has a 1-year low of $8.06 and a 1-year high of $12.05. The stock has a market cap of $46.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.35 and a beta of 0.79. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $9.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.67.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.16. Vale had a net margin of 14.23% and a return on equity of 18.14%. The company had revenue of $8.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.54 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be given a $0.3417 dividend. 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 currently 58.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on VALE. Wall Street Zen began coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $10.00 target price (up previously from $9.00) on shares of Vale in a report on Monday, August 4th. CICC Research began coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Monday, May 12th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $11.30 target price for the company. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Vale from $13.00 to $12.50 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Vale from $12.75 to $13.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $11.84.

Vale Company 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.