J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 10,961 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Vale by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 7,951,020 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $92,868,000 after purchasing an additional 468,432 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC purchased a new stake in Vale in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,126,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Vale by 274.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 162,453 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,915,000 after buying an additional 119,061 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its position in Vale by 723.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 2,035,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,774,000 after buying an additional 1,788,205 shares during the period. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Vale in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,422,000. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vale Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE VALE opened at $10.10 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $45.82 billion, a PE ratio of 4.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $9.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.99. Vale S.A. has a 52 week low of $8.38 and a 52 week high of $13.76.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.36). The firm had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.03 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 21.07% and a net margin of 22.59%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.3758 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous dividend of $0.30. Vale’s payout ratio is 42.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group cut shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $11.50 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.26.

About Vale

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.