Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. Purchases New Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. purchased a new position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 47,980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $426,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VALE. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in Vale by 206.4% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,938 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Vale during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in Vale by 3,092.0% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 3,192 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 3,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 21.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of VALE stock opened at $9.92 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.95. The company has a market cap of $45.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.89, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 $13.40.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. The business had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.03 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.3758 per share. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. This represents a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 88.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on VALE shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group cut shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $14.00 to $11.50 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.