Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Raises Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 25.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,965,672 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 2,014,652 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Vale were worth $88,396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Vale by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,605,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $427,550,000 after purchasing an additional 5,635,167 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its stake in Vale by 3,692.5% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 18,200,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $212,576,000 after purchasing an additional 17,720,100 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Vale by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,404,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $203,290,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,544 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in Vale by 123.4% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 12,059,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $140,859,000 after purchasing an additional 6,660,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Vale by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,906,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $139,073,000 after purchasing an additional 53,061 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on VALE. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.26.

Vale Stock Down 1.4 %

Vale stock opened at $9.27 on Thursday. Vale S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $8.38 and a fifty-two week high of $13.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $9.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.92. The company has a market capitalization of $42.05 billion, a PE ratio of 6.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.36). The business had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.03 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. Research analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.3758 dividend. This is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. Vale’s payout ratio is 88.89%.

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.