State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Boosts Stock Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its holdings in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 63.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 793,898 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 308,679 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Vale were worth $7,042,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Vale by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,605,338 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $427,550,000 after purchasing an additional 5,635,167 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in Vale by 3,692.5% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 18,200,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $212,576,000 after acquiring an additional 17,720,100 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Vale by 10.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,404,942 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $203,290,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,544 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its stake in Vale by 123.4% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 6,660,933 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 0.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,906,975 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $139,073,000 after acquiring an additional 53,061 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on VALE. UBS Group lowered shares of Vale from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $14.00 to $11.50 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research raised Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven research 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, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $13.26.

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VALE traded down $0.06 during trading on Friday, reaching $10.10. 42,831,691 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 37,562,922. The company has a 50-day moving average of $9.09 and a 200-day moving average of $9.99. Vale S.A. has a 52-week low of $8.38 and a 52-week high of $13.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last released 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 22.59% and a return on equity of 21.07%. The company had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.03 billion. Analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.3758 per share. This is a boost from Vale's previous dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Vale's payout ratio is presently 42.59%.

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.