Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Stock Position Trimmed by Capital World Investors

Capital World Investors decreased its holdings in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,598,415 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 197,982 shares during the period. Capital World Investors owned approximately 0.61% of Vale worth $244,795,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in shares of Vale by 215.9% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,780 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in Vale by 206.4% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,877 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,938 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in Vale by 3,092.0% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 3,192 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 3,092 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Vale during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Vale by 68.3% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.85% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VALE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $11.00 price objective (down previously from $12.00) on shares of Vale in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Vale from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $11.00 to $11.50 in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $12.44.

Vale Stock Down 2.5 %

NYSE VALE traded down $0.24 on Friday, hitting $9.51. 33,096,109 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,587,110. The company has a market capitalization of $43.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.57 and a 200 day moving average of $9.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Vale S.A. has a twelve month low of $8.06 and a twelve month high of $13.14.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. The firm had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.03 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

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