Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 215,573 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Natixis Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 36.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 373,879 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 215,573 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $3,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vale in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,126,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Vale by 274.4% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 162,453 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,915,000 after purchasing an additional 119,061 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP increased its stake in Vale by 723.2% in the third quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 2,035,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,774,000 after purchasing an additional 1,788,205 shares in the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Vale in the third quarter worth $1,422,000. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Vale by 17.6% during the third quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC now owns 469,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,478,000 after purchasing an additional 70,278 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VALE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of 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 research note on Thursday, December 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.26.

Vale Price Performance

NYSE VALE opened at $10.08 on Friday. Vale S.A. has a 12-month low of $8.38 and a 12-month high of $13.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $9.48 and its 200-day moving average is $9.90. The company has a market capitalization of $45.73 billion, a PE ratio of 7.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.36). The business had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.03 billion. Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.3758 dividend. This represents a yield of 7.5%. This is an increase from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. 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.