Syntax Research Inc. Acquires 234,267 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Syntax Research Inc. raised its holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 1,379.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 251,250 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 234,267 shares during the quarter. Vale accounts for about 1.6% of Syntax Research Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Syntax Research Inc.’s holdings in Vale were worth $2,229,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Vale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $80,000. LPL Financial LLC boosted 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 valued at $6,523,000 after purchasing an additional 64,448 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted 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 valued at $29,598,000 after purchasing an additional 260,550 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,260,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Vale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $209,000. 21.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vale Stock Down 0.6 %

VALE stock opened at $10.08 on Monday. Vale S.A. has a 1-year low of $8.38 and a 1-year high of $13.14. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $9.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.00, a P/E/G 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 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. Equities analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company 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 lowered their price objective for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Eight 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 stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.