Van ECK Associates Corp Has $113.75 Million Holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,172,389 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 447,561 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Vale were worth $113,754,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whittier Trust Co. raised its position in Vale by 423.1% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,951 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 1,578 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Vale in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Vale in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Systematic Alpha Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Vale during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 2,502.8% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 2,728 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VALE. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Vale in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays increased their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Vale from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Saturday, March 30th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.67.

Vale Price Performance

VALE traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $12.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,315,507 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,701,404. The stock has a market cap of $54.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.77, a P/E/G ratio of 5.25 and a beta of 0.97. Vale S.A. has a 12 month low of $11.52 and a 12 month high of $16.08. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $12.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $13.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.95 billion. Vale had a net margin of 18.72% and a return on equity of 19.59%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

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

About Vale

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.