Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Stock Position Boosted by J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG grew its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 15.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 115,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 15,000 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Vale were worth $1,022,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VALE. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in Vale by 16.8% in the third quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 11,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $140,000 after purchasing an additional 1,725 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 89.7% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 9,161 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Vale during the third quarter valued at about $79,000. PVG Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in Vale during the third quarter worth about $182,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Vale by 13.2% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 301,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,520,000 after acquiring an additional 35,183 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VALE. Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $11.00 price target (down previously from $12.00) on shares of Vale in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America raised Vale from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $11.50 in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com started coverage on Vale in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.44.

Vale Stock Up 3.5 %

NYSE:VALE opened at $9.44 on Wednesday. Vale S.A. has a 1-year low of $8.06 and a 1-year high of $13.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.56, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $9.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.66.

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

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.3758 dividend. 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 was Monday, March 10th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

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.