Ballentine Partners LLC Sells 16,183 Shares of Vale S.A. $VALE

Ballentine Partners LLC lessened its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 39.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,577 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 16,183 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VALE. GQG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Vale during the 1st quarter valued at about $371,778,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its stake in Vale by 165.9% in the 1st quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 31,257,989 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $311,955,000 after acquiring an additional 19,500,437 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 38.0% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,932,405 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $159,005,000 after purchasing an additional 4,389,959 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 15.6% during the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 11,523,471 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $115,004,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557,799 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 15.2% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,628,829 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,196,000 after purchasing an additional 610,457 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on VALE shares. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.00 target price (up from $9.00) on shares of Vale in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Vale from $13.50 to $13.70 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Clarkson Capital assumed coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $12.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank raised shares of Vale from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $14.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Vale from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $11.93.

Vale Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE VALE opened at $10.74 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.81. Vale S.A. has a 52-week low of $8.06 and a 52-week high of $12.05. The firm has a market cap of $48.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.73 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced 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 business had revenue of $8.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.54 billion. Equities analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were given a $0.3417 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a dividend yield of 740.0%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.35%.

Vale Company 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.