Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Cuts Stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,760,200 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 247,210 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Vale were worth $15,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mirabella Financial Services LLP increased its position in shares of Vale by 306.5% during the fourth quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP now owns 1,800,022 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $15,966,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357,204 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 419,437 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,720,000 after buying an additional 65,659 shares in the last quarter. Natixis raised its position in shares of Vale by 1,232.3% in the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 110,102 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $977,000 after buying an additional 101,838 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Inc. CA raised its position in shares of Vale by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 474,272 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,207,000 after buying an additional 96,495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,865,596 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $69,767,000 after buying an additional 313,431 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on VALE shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Vale in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Bank of America raised Vale from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock 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 for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $11.00 price target (down previously from $12.00) on shares of Vale in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $12.44.

Vale Trading Up 2.2 %

VALE traded up $0.21 on Thursday, hitting $9.76. The company had a trading volume of 30,351,190 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,576,525. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $44.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.78, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.73. The company's fifty day moving average price is $9.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.65. Vale S.A. has a 1 year low of $8.06 and a 1 year high of $13.14.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.03 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

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

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.