AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 22,734 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in Vale by 215.9% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,780 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Vale by 206.4% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,938 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Vale during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its holdings in Vale by 3,092.0% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 3,192 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 3,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Vale in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VALE. Barclays cut their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.26.

Vale Price Performance

NYSE:VALE opened at $10.06 on Friday. Vale S.A. has a 52-week low of $8.38 and a 52-week high of $13.14. The company has a market cap of $45.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.90.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.36). The company had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.03 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.3758 per share. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. This represents a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is 52.08%.

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.