Vontobel Holding Ltd. Sells 52,195 Shares of Vale S.A. $VALE

Vontobel Holding Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 53.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 45,311 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 52,195 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Vale were worth $492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VALE. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Vale by 1,534.8% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,810,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $240,908,000 after purchasing an additional 23,292,629 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Vale by 31.8% in the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 21,705,260 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $210,758,000 after purchasing an additional 5,234,201 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in Vale by 121.7% during the 2nd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 7,069,889 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $68,649,000 after buying an additional 3,881,062 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Vale by 23,288.2% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,096,602 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,068,000 after buying an additional 3,083,362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 24.8% in the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 12,050,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $117,012,000 after buying an additional 2,393,157 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on VALE. Morgan Stanley set a $11.50 target price on shares of Vale in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research lowered Vale from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Vale from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $14.20 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Hsbc Global Res raised Vale to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Vale from $13.80 to $14.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.04.

Vale Stock Performance

NYSE VALE opened at $12.94 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.24. Vale S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $8.06 and a fifty-two week high of $13.62. The company has a market cap of $58.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $12.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.01.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $10.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.39 billion. Vale had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 18.60%. Sell-side analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $0.2331 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.23%.

Vale Profile

Vale SA is a Brazilian multinational mining company and one of the world’s largest producers of iron ore and iron ore pellets. In addition to iron ore, the company produces and sells a range of bulk commodities and metals, including nickel, copper, coal, manganese, ferroalloys and cobalt, and it participates in the fertilizer inputs market. Vale also operates extensive logistics assets — including rail, port and maritime logistics — that support its mining and export activities and provide services to third parties in some regions.

Headquartered in Brazil, Vale maintains a global operational footprint with mining, processing and shipping activities across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.