Guggenheim Capital LLC Sells 16,774 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Guggenheim Capital LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE – Get Rating) by 33.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 16,774 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in Vale by 2.9% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 24,249 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 17.7% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,930 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 743 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 0.6% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 158,833 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,116,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 2.7% during the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 35,070 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $479,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 3.7% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 27,697 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 998 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.58% of the company’s stock.

Vale Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:VALE opened at $16.20 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $17.38 and a 200-day moving average of $15.45. The company has a market capitalization of $74.38 billion, a PE ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.12. Vale S.A. has a 52-week low of $11.72 and a 52-week high of $21.29.

Vale (NYSE:VALE – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The basic materials company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $11.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.51 billion. Vale had a net margin of 42.86% and a return on equity of 43.41%. On average, equities analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a $0.3542 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 6.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VALE shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Vale from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $14.50 to $20.00 in a report on Friday, December 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Vale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Vale from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $16.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Monday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Vale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.85.

About Vale

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Vale SA engages in the production and exportation of iron ore, pellets, manganese, and iron alloys. It operates through the following segments: Ferrous Minerals, Base Metals, and Coal. The Ferrous Minerals segment includes the production and extraction of iron ore, iron ore pellets, manganese, other ferrous products, and logistic services.