Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 215,573 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Natixis Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 36.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 373,879 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 215,573 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $3,316,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 158,561 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494 shares during the last quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 16.8% in the third quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 11,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $140,000 after purchasing an additional 1,725 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in shares of Vale by 215.9% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,780 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,900 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Vale by 206.4% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,938 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 9,827 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 2,317 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on VALE. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” 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. Wolfe Research upgraded Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price 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. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vale presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.26.

Vale Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of VALE opened at $10.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.91. Vale S.A. has a 52-week low of $8.38 and a 52-week high of $13.14. The firm has a market cap of $45.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.00, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s fifty day moving average is $9.48 and its 200-day moving average is $9.90.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its earnings results 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). Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. The business had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.03 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.3758 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a yield of 7.5%. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.08%.

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.