12,304 Shares in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Acquired by EntryPoint Capital LLC

EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 12,304 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $109,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Syntax Research Inc. increased its stake in Vale by 1,379.4% during the 4th quarter. Syntax Research Inc. now owns 251,250 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,229,000 after purchasing an additional 234,267 shares in the last quarter. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Vale during the fourth quarter valued at about $80,000. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Vale by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 735,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,523,000 after acquiring an additional 64,448 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Vale by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,336,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,598,000 after acquiring an additional 260,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vale in the 4th quarter worth about $1,260,000. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VALE opened at $10.06 on Monday. Vale S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $8.38 and a fifty-two week high of $13.14. The company’s 50-day moving average is $9.61 and its 200 day moving average is $9.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $45.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its 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). The company had revenue of $10.12 billion for 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.3758 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. Vale’s payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on VALE. Morgan Stanley downgraded 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. StockNews.com started coverage on Vale in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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. Barclays dropped 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. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.26.

Vale 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.