Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Acquires New Shares in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 10,390 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $165,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Vale in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 423.1% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,951 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Alpha Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vale during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 44.7% during the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 2,702 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 2,502.8% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 2,728 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VALE. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price target (down from $20.00) on shares of Vale in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com began coverage on Vale in a research note on Saturday, March 30th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Vale in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Vale from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.67.

Vale Price Performance

Vale stock opened at $11.67 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $12.73 and its 200 day moving average is $13.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $52.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.97. Vale S.A. has a one year low of $11.52 and a one year high of $16.24.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.48). The business had revenue of $13.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.95 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 20.00% and a net margin of 19.10%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.3182 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a yield of 9.7%. Vale’s payout ratio is currently 64.48%.

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.