Naviter Wealth LLC Buys 21,460 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Naviter Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 30.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 91,225 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,460 shares during the quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $1,447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Choreo LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vale in the 4th quarter valued at about $282,000. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 10,837,103 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $171,876,000 after buying an additional 75,726 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Vale by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,670,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $105,799,000 after purchasing an additional 238,467 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in Vale by 832.4% in the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 80,697 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,280,000 after buying an additional 72,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its stake in Vale by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 912,976 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,480,000 after acquiring an additional 55,076 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on VALE shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Vale in a report on Monday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Vale from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price target (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Vale in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Vale from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.67.

Vale Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE:VALE opened at $12.26 on Tuesday. Vale S.A. has a 1 year low of $11.52 and a 1 year high of $16.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $12.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $54.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.90, a P/E/G ratio of 5.25 and a beta of 0.97.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.48). Vale had a net margin of 18.72% and a return on equity of 19.59%. The company had revenue of $13.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a $0.3182 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a yield of 9.7%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.19%.

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.