Graham Capital Management L.P. Has $3.09 Million Stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Graham Capital Management L.P. reduced its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 347,841 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 22,834 shares during the quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Vale were worth $3,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VALE. FMR LLC grew its position in Vale by 28.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,163,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $418,338,000 after acquiring an additional 10,557,888 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 33,995,398 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $301,541,000 after purchasing an additional 5,775,590 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 328.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 13,298,912 shares during the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD raised its holdings in shares of Vale by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 11,754,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $109,202,000 after buying an additional 1,381,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Vale by 25.3% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 2,014,652 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of Vale stock opened at $9.37 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $9.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.53. 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 has a market capitalization of $42.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.51, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.83. Vale S.A. has a 52 week low of $8.06 and a 52 week high of $13.14.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. The company had revenue of $8.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. As a group, equities research 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 was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.3758 per share. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a yield of 7.5%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Vale from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $11.50 in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Vale in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $11.00 price objective (down previously from $12.00) on shares of Vale in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Vale from $10.50 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.13.

Vale Company 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.