Russell Investments Group Ltd. Buys 123,809 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,232,476 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 123,809 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.09% of Vale worth $37,542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,073,716 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $9,524,000 after purchasing an additional 99,562 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Vale by 68.3% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 1,623 shares during the period. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP increased its stake in Vale by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 2,286,577 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $20,282,000 after purchasing an additional 430,331 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in Vale in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,599,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 94,814 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $841,000 after acquiring an additional 5,928 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on VALE shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price 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. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Bank of America raised 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 report on Thursday. Scotiabank dropped 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. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $12.65.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of Vale stock traded up $0.30 during trading on Friday, hitting $9.20. 38,900,971 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,701,652. The stock has a market cap of $41.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.39, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.73. The firm's fifty day moving average is $9.63 and its 200-day moving average is $9.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Vale S.A. has a 52 week low of $8.06 and a 52 week high of $13.14.

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

Vale Increases Dividend

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

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.