Greenleaf Trust Boosts Stock Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Greenleaf Trust lifted its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,283 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 827 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Vale were worth $480,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AIA Group Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 158,479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,513,000 after purchasing an additional 42,362 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 36.0% during the fourth quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 8,396,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $133,166,000 after purchasing an additional 2,220,317 shares during the period. Ninety One North America Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 3,037,881 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,181,000 after purchasing an additional 134,843 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vale during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Prosperitas Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Vale by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. Prosperitas Financial LLC now owns 110,889 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,759,000 after buying an additional 39,946 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VALE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $13.00 price objective (down from $20.00) on shares of Vale in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Vale in a report on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Saturday, March 30th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Vale from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.67.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VALE opened at $12.20 on Tuesday. Vale S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $11.52 and a fifty-two week high of $16.08. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.77. The company has a market capitalization of $54.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.67, a P/E/G ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.28.

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

Vale Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 9.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.48%.

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.