Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC Sells 1,299,999 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 57.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 945,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,299,999 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC's holdings in Vale were worth $8,388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VALE. 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 worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Vale by 206.4% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,877 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in Vale by 3,092.0% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 3,192 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 3,092 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Vale during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vale by 68.3% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,623 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VALE. Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $11.00 target price (down from $12.00) on shares of Vale in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Vale from $10.50 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Vale in a research report on Wednesday. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Vale from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $11.00 to $11.50 in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $12.13.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of VALE stock traded down $0.06 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $9.26. The company had a trading volume of 5,381,540 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,475,669. The stock's 50-day moving average is $9.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.83. 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.

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

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.3758 per share. 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 dividend yield of 7.5%. Vale's dividend payout ratio is 54.35%.

Vale 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.