American Century Companies Inc. Increases Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,336,882 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 260,550 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.07% of Vale worth $29,598,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Vale in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $80,300,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 123.4% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 12,059,814 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $140,859,000 after purchasing an additional 6,660,933 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Vale by 18.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,605,338 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $427,550,000 after purchasing an additional 5,635,167 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in Vale by 106.0% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 9,721,066 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $86,226,000 after buying an additional 5,001,228 shares during the period. Finally, Fourth Sail Capital LP acquired a new stake in Vale in the 4th quarter worth about $31,305,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VALE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Vale from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Vale in a research note on Wednesday. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vale has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $13.26.

Remove Ads

Vale Stock Performance

NYSE:VALE remained flat at $10.10 during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company's stock had a trading volume of 24,463,332 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,804,164. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.89. The company has a market capitalization of $45.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.72. Vale S.A. has a one year low of $8.38 and a one year high of $13.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 EPS 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 analysts' expectations of $10.03 billion. Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.3758 per share. This is a boost from Vale's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Vale's 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.