Vale S.A. $VALE Shares Bought by Lazard Asset Management LLC

Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 5.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,080,222 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,002,588 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $194,978,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its stake in shares of Vale by 165.9% in the first quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 31,257,989 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $311,955,000 after acquiring an additional 19,500,437 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Vale by 1,534.8% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,810,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $240,908,000 after purchasing an additional 23,292,629 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Vale by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 21,705,260 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $210,758,000 after buying an additional 5,234,201 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 16,296,306 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $158,237,000 after buying an additional 363,901 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 24.8% in the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 12,050,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $117,012,000 after buying an additional 2,393,157 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on VALE shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on Vale from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Clarkson Capital assumed coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $12.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Vale in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley set a $11.50 price objective on shares of Vale in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of Vale from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $14.20 in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.96.

Vale Trading Down 4.4%

VALE stock opened at $12.70 on Friday. Vale S.A. has a 12-month low of $8.06 and a 12-month high of $13.62. The business’s 50-day moving average is $12.03 and its 200 day moving average is $10.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $57.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.77 and a beta of 0.57.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.14. Vale had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 14.69%.The business had revenue of $10.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.39 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $0.2331 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.15%.

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.