Prosperitas Financial LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Prosperitas Financial LLC grew its holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 56.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 110,889 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 39,946 shares during the period. Vale makes up 1.3% of Prosperitas Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Prosperitas Financial LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $1,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 72,165,728 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,138,775,000 after purchasing an additional 11,393,498 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 57.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,763,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $359,214,000 after purchasing an additional 8,334,786 shares during the period. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC lifted its holdings in Vale by 162.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Vale by 52.3% during the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 13,783,862 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $184,978,000 after buying an additional 4,733,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Vale by 21.1% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on VALE. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $13.00 price target (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Vale in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Vale in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Vale from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.67.

Vale Stock Performance

NYSE:VALE traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $11.64. The stock had a trading volume of 16,897,842 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,185,449. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.81. Vale S.A. has a 12-month low of $11.52 and a 12-month high of $16.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $52.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.97.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.48). Vale had a return on equity of 20.00% and a net margin of 19.10%. The business had revenue of $13.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.3182 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 9.7%. 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.