Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Sells 68,682 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank reduced its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 67.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,026 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 68,682 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Vale were worth $330,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Vale by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 33,995,398 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $301,541,000 after purchasing an additional 5,775,590 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Vale by 49.3% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 18,238,313 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $161,773,000 after purchasing an additional 6,023,144 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Vale by 38.0% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,932,405 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $159,005,000 after purchasing an additional 4,389,959 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Vale by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,865,596 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,767,000 after purchasing an additional 313,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc grew its stake in shares of Vale by 193.7% in the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 5,100,597 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $45,242,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363,941 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on VALE. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Vale from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Vale from $13.00 to $12.50 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen began coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. CICC Research began coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Monday, May 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $11.30 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $11.00 price objective (down from $12.00) on shares of Vale in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vale presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.84.

Vale Price Performance

VALE stock opened at $10.22 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $9.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.59. Vale S.A. has a 52-week low of $8.06 and a 52-week high of $12.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.31 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.22.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.16. Vale had a net margin of 14.23% and a return on equity of 18.14%. The firm had revenue of $8.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.54 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be issued a $0.3417 dividend. This represents a yield of 740.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 13th. Vale’s payout ratio is presently 35.77%.

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.