Vale S.A. $VALE Position Lowered by Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. trimmed its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 10.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 27,069,145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,147,129 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in Vale were worth $362,997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Vale by 15.3% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 47,947,703 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $762,848,000 after acquiring an additional 6,351,703 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 5.4% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 23,685,915 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $376,843,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205,280 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 119.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 21,837,416 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $347,433,000 after purchasing an additional 11,905,247 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Vale by 15,202.2% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 15,663,641 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $249,209,000 after purchasing an additional 15,561,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Vale by 27.3% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 14,053,337 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,589,000 after purchasing an additional 3,012,700 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vale Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE VALE opened at $13.01 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $14.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.19. Vale S.A. has a 52-week low of $11.23 and a 52-week high of $17.94. The company has a market capitalization of $59.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.54 and a beta of 0.42.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.10). Vale had a return on equity of 19.87% and a net margin of 5.11%. The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.47 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.70 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a special dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were given a dividend of $0.3088 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 13th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is 89.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VALE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Vale from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Vale from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Scotiabank upgraded Vale from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $16.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Vale from $17.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Vale presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.75.

Vale Profile

Vale SA is a Brazil-based global mining and logistics company best known for producing iron ore and iron ore pellets, key raw materials used in steelmaking. The company also produces nickel, copper, manganese ore, coal and other mineral products, with operations spanning exploration, extraction, processing and transportation.

Vale operates an extensive logistics network that includes railways, ports and maritime transportation systems, primarily supporting the movement of minerals from its production sites to domestic and international customers.