Wealthfront Advisers LLC Makes New $1.96 Million Investment in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 221,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,962,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,605,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $427,550,000 after purchasing an additional 5,635,167 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 3,692.5% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 18,200,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $212,576,000 after purchasing an additional 17,720,100 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,404,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $203,290,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,544 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 123.4% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 12,059,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $140,859,000 after purchasing an additional 6,660,933 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,906,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $139,073,000 after purchasing an additional 53,061 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VALE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays cut their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wolfe Research raised Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley cut Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.26.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VALE opened at $9.83 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.82, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50-day moving average of $9.32 and a 200-day moving average of $9.92. 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 fifty-two week low of $8.38 and a fifty-two week high of $13.14.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.03 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.3758 per share. This represents a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date 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%.

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.