Northern Trust Corp Purchases 877,404 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 27.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,018,372 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 877,404 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned 0.09% of Vale worth $35,643,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in shares of Vale by 215.9% in the fourth 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 increased its stake 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. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake 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 period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Vale during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.85% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Vale Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of VALE stock traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $9.88. 30,987,479 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,673,994. Vale S.A. has a one year low of $8.06 and a one year high of $13.14. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $9.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.51. 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 capitalization of $44.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Vale Increases Dividend

The business 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%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Vale's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale's dividend payout ratio is 54.35%.

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.