Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 935,440 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA decreased its holdings in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 19.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,928,962 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 935,440 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 0.09% of Vale worth $62,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 9,254,277 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $124,007,000 after buying an additional 150,918 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Vale by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 10,097 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $160,000 after acquiring an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Vale by 49,161.5% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,440,413 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $38,705,000 after purchasing an additional 2,435,459 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Vale by 4.5% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,724,828 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $90,112,000 after purchasing an additional 289,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in Vale in the third quarter valued at $290,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VALE has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays raised their target price on Vale from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Vale in a report on Saturday, March 30th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $13.00 price target (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Vale in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Vale from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Vale in a research report on Monday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vale has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $16.67.

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of VALE stock traded up $0.33 during trading on Friday, hitting $12.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 26,159,710 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,091,395. The business has a fifty day moving average of $12.28 and a 200-day moving average of $13.69. The company has a market cap of $58.24 billion, a PE ratio of 7.18, a P/E/G ratio of 5.49 and a beta of 0.97. Vale S.A. has a 52 week low of $11.52 and a 52 week high of $16.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.48). The business had revenue of $13.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.95 billion. Vale had a net margin of 18.72% and a return on equity of 19.59%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a $0.3182 dividend. This represents a yield of 9.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. Vale's payout ratio is 65.19%.

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.