Virtu Financial LLC Takes $1.26 Million Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 142,041 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,260,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Vale by 62.9% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,683 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $195,000 after buying an additional 6,443 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its stake in Vale by 62.4% during the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 108,774 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,270,000 after acquiring an additional 41,800 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Vale by 15.8% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 238,220 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,782,000 after purchasing an additional 32,462 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted 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 worth $139,073,000 after purchasing an additional 53,061 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Vale by 10.7% in the third 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 in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Vale Price Performance

Shares of VALE stock traded up $0.04 on Thursday, reaching $10.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 20,042,142 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,443,878. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $9.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.89. Vale S.A. has a 1 year low of $8.38 and a 1 year high of $13.14. 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 company has a market capitalization of $46.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.36). The company had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.03 billion. Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.3758 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. This is an increase from Vale's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale's dividend payout ratio is currently 52.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VALE. Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com began coverage on Vale in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Barclays decreased their target price on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Vale from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $13.26.

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.