Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Decreases Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC decreased its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 95.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,323 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 66,322 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Vale were worth $29,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Vale by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,163,226 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $418,338,000 after buying an additional 10,557,888 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Vale by 328.3% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 17,349,581 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $153,891,000 after buying an additional 13,298,912 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD increased its position in shares of Vale by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 11,754,809 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $109,202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381,475 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Vale by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 9,965,672 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $88,396,000 after purchasing an additional 2,014,652 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Vale by 106.0% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 9,721,066 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $86,226,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,228 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.85% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on VALE. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $11.00 target price (down from $12.00) on shares of Vale in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group cut their target price on Vale from $10.50 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America raised Vale from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $11.00 to $11.50 in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. CICC Research began coverage on Vale in a research report on Monday, May 12th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $11.30 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Vale in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $12.04.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of VALE stock traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $9.83. 23,438,606 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,709,803. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $9.50 and a 200 day moving average of $9.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Vale S.A. has a 52-week low of $8.06 and a 52-week high of $13.14. The company has a market cap of $44.62 billion, a PE ratio of 6.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.3758 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Vale's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. This represents a yield of 7.5%. Vale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.