Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Stock Position Boosted by Deprince Race & Zollo Inc.

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. raised its holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 45.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 419,280 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 130,180 shares during the quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc.'s holdings in Vale were worth $4,683,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VALE. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Vale by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,315,171 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $195,319,000 after buying an additional 2,224,756 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Vale by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 12,269,261 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $149,561,000 after acquiring an additional 485,702 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Vale by 27.8% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,853,914 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $132,408,000 after acquiring an additional 2,578,900 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD raised its position in Vale by 20.4% during the second quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 10,950,729 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $118,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,854,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oaktree Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 9,399,887 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $149,082,000 after purchasing an additional 705,520 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company's stock.

Vale Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Vale stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $11.90. The company had a trading volume of 1,448,360 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,545,441. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.08. Vale S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $9.66 and a fifty-two week high of $16.08. The firm's fifty day moving average is $10.50 and its 200-day moving average is $11.46. The company has a market cap of $53.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.93.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $9.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.97 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 22.23% and a net margin of 23.07%. On average, analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were issued a dividend of $0.3698 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 12.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. This is a boost from Vale's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.32. Vale's payout ratio is 64.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on VALE shares. Wolfe Research downgraded Vale from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. BNP Paribas upgraded Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $16.17.

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.