Fisher Asset Management LLC Has $152.43 Million Holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Fisher Asset Management LLC cut its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,185,143 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 219,799 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned 0.38% of Vale worth $152,432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VALE. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 75,491 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $882,000 after buying an additional 6,481 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 50.9% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 31,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 10,730 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 1,680.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 242,514 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,833,000 after buying an additional 228,890 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 28,754 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $336,000 after buying an additional 1,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 44.6% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 18,755 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $219,000 after buying an additional 5,785 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vale Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE VALE opened at $9.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.91. Vale S.A. has a 52 week low of $8.38 and a 52 week high of $13.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.55, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $9.19 and its 200 day moving average is $9.97.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.36). Vale had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 16.15%. The company had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.03 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.3758 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. This is a boost from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on VALE shares. UBS Group downgraded Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $11.50 in a report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank cut their price target on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays cut their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight equities research 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 an average 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.