Sprott Inc. Raises Holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Sprott Inc. boosted its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 60.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 87,957 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 33,190 shares during the quarter. Sprott Inc.’s holdings in Vale were worth $780,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VALE. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Vale by 18.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,605,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $427,550,000 after acquiring an additional 5,635,167 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in Vale by 3,692.5% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 18,200,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $212,576,000 after purchasing an additional 17,720,100 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,404,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $203,290,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,544 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 123.4% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 12,059,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $140,859,000 after buying an additional 6,660,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Vale by 0.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,906,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $139,073,000 after buying an additional 53,061 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VALE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Vale in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.26.

Vale Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE VALE opened at $9.91 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.88, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.91. Vale S.A. has a one year low of $8.38 and a one year high of $13.68. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $9.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.98.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.36). Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. The business had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.03 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.3758 dividend. This is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a yield of 7.5%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.89%.

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.