430,000 Shares in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Purchased by Anthracite Investment Company Inc.

Anthracite Investment Company Inc. purchased a new stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 430,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,814,000. Vale comprises approximately 1.3% of Anthracite Investment Company Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 5,635,167 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 3,692.5% in the third 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 buying an additional 17,720,100 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Vale by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,404,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $203,290,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,544 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 123.4% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 12,059,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $140,859,000 after acquiring an additional 6,660,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 11,754,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $109,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,381,475 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE VALE opened at $10.07 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Vale S.A. has a 1-year low of $8.38 and a 1-year high of $13.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.89. The company has a market capitalization of $45.71 billion, a PE ratio of 6.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.36). Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. The firm had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.03 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. This is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Vale in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.26.

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.