Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Boosts Stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 328.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,349,581 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,298,912 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.38% of Vale worth $153,891,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in Vale during the third quarter valued at approximately $80,300,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake 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 valued at $140,859,000 after buying an additional 6,660,933 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Vale by 106.0% in the 4th 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. Fourth Sail Capital LP purchased a new stake in Vale in the 4th quarter worth $31,305,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Vale by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 9,965,672 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $88,396,000 after acquiring an additional 2,014,652 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vale Price Performance

VALE stock traded down $0.64 during trading on Friday, hitting $9.10. 73,632,595 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,023,510. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.88. Vale S.A. has a 52 week low of $8.38 and a 52 week high of $13.14. 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 $41.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.72.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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). Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. The company had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.03 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.3758 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Vale's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. This represents a yield of 7.5%. Vale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.08%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VALE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com began coverage on Vale in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Vale from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Vale currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.