Jump Financial LLC Sells 666,860 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Jump Financial LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 54.1% 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 564,708 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 666,860 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC's holdings in Vale were worth $5,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of VALE. Bridgewater Associates LP raised its position in shares of Vale by 95.4% during the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 3,977,115 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $35,277,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941,638 shares during the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its holdings in Vale by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 80,270 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $712,000 after purchasing an additional 10,480 shares during the last quarter. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Vale by 115.4% in the fourth quarter. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC now owns 45,536 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 24,400 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its stake in Vale by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 35,713 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 8,597 shares during the period. Finally, Mariner LLC boosted its holdings in Vale by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 103,475 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $918,000 after buying an additional 18,216 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vale Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE:VALE opened at $9.00 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.74. Vale S.A. has a 52-week low of $8.06 and a 52-week high of $13.14. The company has a market cap of $40.85 billion, a PE ratio of 6.25, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.91.

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 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 business had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.03 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on VALE. 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 note on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America upgraded Vale from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $11.50 in a report on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com began coverage on Vale in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $12.65.

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.

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