Ninety One UK Ltd Raises Stock Holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Ninety One UK Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 36.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,396,322 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,220,317 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd owned approximately 0.19% of Vale worth $133,166,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VALE. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Vale by 18.7% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 72,165,728 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,138,775,000 after purchasing an additional 11,393,498 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Vale by 57.8% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,763,893 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $359,214,000 after purchasing an additional 8,334,786 shares in the last quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC grew its position in shares of Vale by 162.4% during the third quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 10,761,377 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $144,202,000 after purchasing an additional 6,660,917 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Vale by 52.3% during the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 13,783,862 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $184,978,000 after purchasing an additional 4,733,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Vale by 21.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,752,878 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $237,889,000 after purchasing an additional 3,092,376 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on VALE. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Vale in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays lifted their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Vale from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Vale from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Vale in a research report on Saturday, March 30th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vale currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $16.67.

Vale Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:VALE traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $11.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 25,771,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,634,764. The company has a market capitalization of $53.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.97. Vale S.A. has a 12 month low of $11.52 and a 12 month high of $16.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $12.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.78.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.48). The business had revenue of $13.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.95 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 20.00% and a net margin of 19.10%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.3182 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 9.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. Vale's payout ratio is presently 64.48%.

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.