Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. Decreases Holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. lowered its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 14.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 193,182 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 31,858 shares during the period. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc.’s holdings in Vale were worth $1,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Vale by 18.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,605,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $427,550,000 after acquiring an additional 5,635,167 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its holdings in Vale by 3,692.5% during 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 last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in 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 worth $203,290,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,544 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in 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 worth $140,859,000 after purchasing an additional 6,660,933 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Vale by 0.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,906,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $139,073,000 after purchasing an additional 53,061 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VALE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com lowered Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vale currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.26.

Vale Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of Vale stock opened at $10.07 on Tuesday. Vale S.A. has a 1 year low of $8.38 and a 1 year high of $13.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $45.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.99, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $9.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.90.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $10.03 billion. Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. As a group, research analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. 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. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.