Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Grows Stock Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 328.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,349,581 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,298,912 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.38% of Vale worth $153,891,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Vale during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in shares of Vale by 215.9% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,780 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Vale by 206.4% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,938 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Vale in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vale by 3,092.0% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 3,192 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 3,092 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on VALE shares. Scotiabank reduced their target price 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. Barclays cut their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective 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. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Vale in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.26.

Vale Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE VALE opened at $10.06 on Monday. Vale S.A. has a 12-month low of $8.38 and a 12-month high of $13.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.64 billion, a PE ratio of 6.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted 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). 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 analysts’ expectations of $10.03 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The company 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%. This is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.