Aurora Private Wealth Inc. Invests $206,000 in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 13,020 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vale by 18.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 72,165,728 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,138,775,000 after buying an additional 11,393,498 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Vale by 57.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,763,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $359,214,000 after purchasing an additional 8,334,786 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Vale by 21.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,752,878 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $237,889,000 after acquiring an additional 3,092,376 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Vale by 3.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,799,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $217,752,000 after acquiring an additional 452,290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in Vale by 52.3% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 13,783,862 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $184,978,000 after acquiring an additional 4,733,169 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on VALE shares. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 target price (down from $20.00) on shares of Vale in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Vale from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Vale from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com started coverage on Vale in a research note on Saturday, March 30th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Vale in a research note on Monday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.52.

Vale Stock Performance

VALE stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $11.99. The company had a trading volume of 23,768,658 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,205,926. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.97. Vale S.A. has a one year low of $11.73 and a one year high of $16.24. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.82.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.48). The business had revenue of $13.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.95 billion. Vale had a net margin of 19.10% and a return on equity of 20.00%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.82 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.3182 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a yield of 9.7%. Vale’s payout ratio is presently 64.48%.

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.