Fourth Sail Capital LP Buys New Holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Fourth Sail Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,529,300 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $31,305,000. Vale comprises approximately 9.3% of Fourth Sail Capital LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Fourth Sail Capital LP owned 0.08% of Vale at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 3,692.5% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 18,200,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $212,576,000 after acquiring an additional 17,720,100 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Vale during the 3rd quarter worth about $80,300,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 123.4% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 12,059,814 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $140,859,000 after acquiring an additional 6,660,933 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,605,338 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $427,550,000 after acquiring an additional 5,635,167 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in Vale by 106.0% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 9,721,066 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $86,226,000 after buying an additional 5,001,228 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vale Stock Performance

Vale stock traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $9.72. The company's stock had a trading volume of 30,973,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,203,289. The firm has a market cap of $44.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.75, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $9.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Vale S.A. has a twelve month low of $8.38 and a twelve month high of $13.68.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. The company had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.03 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Vale's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. This represents a yield of 7.5%. Vale's payout ratio is 88.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on VALE shares. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Vale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "sector perform" 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 cut their price target for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $13.26.

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.