Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Shares Purchased by Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 94,408 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,416 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Vale were worth $837,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 11,754,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $109,202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381,475 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Vale by 4.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,117,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $129,858,000 after buying an additional 507,245 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 9,965,672 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $88,396,000 after buying an additional 2,014,652 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Vale by 106.0% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 9,721,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $86,226,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Vale by 57.0% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,778,126 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,371,478 shares during the period. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VALE shares. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Vale in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Wolfe Research raised Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vale presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.26.

Vale Price Performance

NYSE VALE opened at $10.10 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.84 billion, a PE ratio of 7.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.72. Vale S.A. has a 12-month low of $8.38 and a 12-month high of $13.14. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $9.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.89.

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

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.3758 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. This is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.08%.

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.