Advisors Asset Management Inc. Buys 16,015 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 254,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,015 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Vale were worth $2,255,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VALE. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vale by 1.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 158,561 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494 shares in the last quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Vale by 16.8% during the third quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 11,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $140,000 after acquiring an additional 1,725 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in shares of Vale by 215.9% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,780 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Vale by 206.4% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Vale by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 9,827 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 2,317 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on VALE. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vale has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.26.

Vale Stock Performance

NYSE:VALE opened at $10.08 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $45.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.90. Vale S.A. has a twelve month low of $8.38 and a twelve month high of $13.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 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 business had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.03 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.3758 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale’s payout ratio is 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.