Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lowered its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 354,662 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 26,094 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Vale were worth $5,625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of VALE. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC lifted its position in Vale by 162.4% in the third quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 10,761,377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $144,202,000 after buying an additional 6,660,917 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Vale by 21.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,752,878 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $237,889,000 after buying an additional 3,092,376 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Vale by 49,161.5% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,440,413 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,705,000 after buying an additional 2,435,459 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Vale by 112.4% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,996,496 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,553,000 after buying an additional 2,115,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RWC Asset Management LLP lifted its position in Vale by 157.4% in the third quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 3,216,553 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,102,000 after buying an additional 1,966,707 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of Vale stock opened at $12.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.67, a P/E/G ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.97. Vale S.A. has a 52 week low of $11.52 and a 52 week high of $16.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $12.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

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

Vale Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.3182 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 9.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. Vale’s payout ratio is currently 64.48%.

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.