Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 364,529 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its holdings in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,542,446 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 364,529 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 0.25% of Vale worth $102,381,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vale in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,126,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Vale by 274.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 162,453 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,915,000 after acquiring an additional 119,061 shares in the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vale during the 3rd quarter worth $1,422,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Vale by 39.4% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 349,851 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,103,000 after acquiring an additional 98,899 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Vale by 206.4% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,877 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VALE shares. Bank of America raised shares of Vale from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $11.00 to $11.50 in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com started coverage on Vale in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Wolfe Research raised Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $12.65.

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Vale Trading Down 1.2 %

VALE traded down $0.11 on Thursday, hitting $8.76. The company had a trading volume of 30,008,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,496,817. Vale S.A. has a 12-month low of $8.06 and a 12-month high of $13.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $9.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.81. The company has a market cap of $39.74 billion, a PE ratio of 6.08, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.73.

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 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 company had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.03 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

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

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.