221,200 Shares in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Bought by Wealthfront Advisers LLC

Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 221,200 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,962,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Vale by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 285,881 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,536,000 after purchasing an additional 32,483 shares in the last quarter. Barings LLC grew its stake in shares of Vale by 111.5% in the fourth quarter. Barings LLC now owns 800,696 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $7,102,000 after acquiring an additional 422,051 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,407,451 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $11,963,000 after buying an additional 100,000 shares during the last quarter. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. purchased a new position in shares of Vale in the fourth quarter worth approximately $426,000. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 753,719 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $6,685,000 after buying an additional 371,637 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vale Price Performance

NYSE:VALE traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $10.21. 47,129,629 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 29,264,890. Vale S.A. has a 1 year low of $8.38 and a 1 year high of $13.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $9.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.90. 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 company has a market cap of $46.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85.

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Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 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 company had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.03 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.3758 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Vale's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale's payout ratio is 52.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VALE. Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Vale from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Vale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vale currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $13.26.

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.