Virtu Financial LLC Makes New $1.26 Million Investment in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 142,041 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,260,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in shares of Vale by 3,692.5% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 18,200,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $212,576,000 after acquiring an additional 17,720,100 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Vale during the third quarter worth approximately $80,300,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 6,660,933 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Vale by 18.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,605,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $427,550,000 after acquiring an additional 5,635,167 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Vale by 106.0% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 9,721,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $86,226,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,228 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of VALE stock opened at $10.08 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.90. The company has a market cap of $45.73 billion, a PE ratio of 7.00, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Vale S.A. has a 12-month low of $8.38 and a 12-month high of $13.14.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released 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). Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. The firm had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.03 billion. Analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VALE. StockNews.com lowered shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.