Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stock Position in Vale S.A. $VALE

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 36.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,842 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,320 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VALE. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Vale during the 1st quarter worth approximately $371,778,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its holdings in Vale by 165.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 19,500,437 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Vale by 38.0% during the 1st 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. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vale during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,118,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vale in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,751,000. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VALE. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Vale in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “cautious” rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank upgraded 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. UBS Group boosted their price target on Vale from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Zacks Research downgraded Vale from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Vale from $15.00 to $13.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.95.

Vale Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:VALE opened at $11.10 on Thursday. Vale S.A. has a 1 year low of $8.06 and a 1 year high of $11.32. The stock has a market cap of $50.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.02 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a fifty day moving average of $10.41 and a 200-day moving average of $9.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.22.

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

Vale Cuts Dividend

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

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.