Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. Sells 31,858 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 14.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 193,182 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 31,858 shares during the period. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc.’s holdings in Vale were worth $1,714,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in shares of Vale by 3,692.5% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 18,200,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $212,576,000 after purchasing an additional 17,720,100 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in Vale during the third quarter valued at approximately $80,300,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in Vale by 123.4% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 12,059,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $140,859,000 after buying an additional 6,660,933 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Vale by 18.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,605,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $427,550,000 after buying an additional 5,635,167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in Vale by 106.0% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 9,721,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $86,226,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,228 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VALE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.26.

Vale Trading Up 2.6 %

Vale stock opened at $10.07 on Tuesday. Vale S.A. has a 1 year low of $8.38 and a 1 year high of $13.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $9.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $45.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.99, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.36). Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. The company had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.03 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.3758 per share. This represents a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.08%.

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.