Scotia Capital Inc. Acquires New Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Scotia Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 163,698 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,452,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Vale during the fourth quarter worth approximately $862,000. DRW Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Vale by 171.7% during the fourth quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 45,931 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $407,000 after buying an additional 110,031 shares during the period. Amitell Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Vale during the fourth quarter worth about $3,810,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of Vale by 45.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 436,275 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,870,000 after acquiring an additional 135,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Vale by 56.0% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 16,722 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 6,001 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company's stock.

Vale Price Performance

VALE traded up $0.10 on Friday, hitting $9.10. 26,699,005 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,616,054. The business's fifty day moving average is $9.58 and its 200 day moving average is $9.70. Vale S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $8.06 and a fifty-two 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 firm has a market capitalization of $41.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.73.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.36). Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. The firm had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.03 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.3758 per share. This is an increase 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 currently 52.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on VALE. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Vale in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Vale from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $11.50 in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $11.00 price target (down previously from $12.00) on shares of Vale in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $12.44.

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.