Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,253,845 Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,253,845 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,122,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,605,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $427,550,000 after purchasing an additional 5,635,167 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in 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 grew its stake in Vale by 10.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,404,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $203,290,000 after buying an additional 1,682,544 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $140,859,000 after buying an additional 6,660,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Vale by 0.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,906,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $139,073,000 after acquiring an additional 53,061 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vale Price Performance

Vale stock opened at $10.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $46.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. Vale S.A. has a 12-month low of $8.38 and a 12-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. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.90.

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

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale’s payout ratio is currently 52.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VALE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on 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 upgraded Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley cut Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.26.

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.