Larson Financial Group LLC Purchases New Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 8,471 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VALE. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 162.4% during the 3rd quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 10,761,377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $144,202,000 after purchasing an additional 6,660,917 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Vale by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,752,878 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $237,889,000 after buying an additional 3,092,376 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Vale by 49,161.5% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,440,413 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,705,000 after buying an additional 2,435,459 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its position in Vale by 36.0% during the 4th quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 8,396,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $133,166,000 after buying an additional 2,220,317 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Vale by 112.4% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,996,496 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,553,000 after buying an additional 2,115,137 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of VALE stock opened at $12.37 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.43 billion, a PE ratio of 6.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Vale S.A. has a 12 month low of $11.52 and a 12 month high of $16.08.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.48). The business had revenue of $13.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.95 billion. Vale had a net margin of 19.10% and a return on equity of 20.00%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. Analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.3182 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a yield of 9.7%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.48%.

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.