82,512 Shares in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Purchased by Norden Group LLC

Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 82,512 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,309,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its position in Vale by 64.8% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 31,504 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $500,000 after purchasing an additional 12,392 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Vale by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,172,389 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $113,754,000 after acquiring an additional 447,561 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Vale by 30.8% during the fourth quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 91,225 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,447,000 after acquiring an additional 21,460 shares during the period. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in Vale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $282,000. Finally, RWC Asset Advisors US LLC lifted its holdings in Vale by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 10,837,103 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $171,876,000 after acquiring an additional 75,726 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Vale in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Vale from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Bank of America restated 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Vale from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.67.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of VALE stock traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $12.20. The company had a trading volume of 18,818,176 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,802,982. Vale S.A. has a 12-month low of $11.52 and a 12-month high of $16.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a market capitalization of $54.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.77, a PEG ratio of 5.25 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $12.51 and a 200-day moving average of $13.74.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.48). Vale had a net margin of 18.72% and a return on equity of 19.59%. The company had revenue of $13.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.3182 per share. This represents a yield of 9.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. Vale’s payout ratio is currently 65.19%.

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.