Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Shares Acquired by Wells Fargo & Company MN

Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE - Free Report) by 10.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,073,716 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 99,562 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN's holdings in Vale were worth $9,524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Vale by 68.3% during the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,623 shares during the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 2,286,577 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $20,282,000 after purchasing an additional 430,331 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in shares of Vale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,599,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Vale by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 94,814 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $841,000 after purchasing an additional 5,928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Vale by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 716,909 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $6,359,000 after buying an additional 15,713 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company's stock.

Vale Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of VALE stock traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $9.10. The stock had a trading volume of 26,699,005 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,599,021. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Vale S.A. has a 12-month low of $8.06 and a 12-month high of $13.14. The firm's 50-day moving average is $9.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.70.

Vale (NYSE:VALE - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 the consensus estimate of $10.03 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. On average, analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VALE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Vale from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $11.50 in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $11.00 price target (down from $12.00) on shares of Vale in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Vale in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Vale from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vale has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $12.44.

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.