Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) Shares Bought by Putnam Investments LLC

Putnam Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE – Get Rating) by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 145,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,237 shares during the quarter. Putnam Investments LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $1,932,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VALE. Bank of New Hampshire grew its position in shares of Vale by 74.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 2,525 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Vale in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Vale by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,930 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 743 shares during the last quarter. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Vale in the 3rd quarter worth about $78,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in Vale by 193.0% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 6,923 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 4,560 shares during the last quarter. 20.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut Vale from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $16.00 to $15.00 in a report on Monday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $20.00 in a report on Thursday, December 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Vale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Vale from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $14.50 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Vale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Vale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.85.

Vale Stock Down 1.6 %

VALE stock opened at $16.20 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $74.38 billion, a PE ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $17.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.47. Vale S.A. has a one year low of $11.72 and a one year high of $21.29.

Vale (NYSE:VALE – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The basic materials company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $11.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.51 billion. Vale had a net margin of 42.86% and a return on equity of 43.41%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.3542 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 6.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. Vale’s payout ratio is presently 2.47%.

Vale Profile

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Vale SA engages in the production and exportation of iron ore, pellets, manganese, and iron alloys. It operates through the following segments: Ferrous Minerals, Base Metals, and Coal. The Ferrous Minerals segment includes the production and extraction of iron ore, iron ore pellets, manganese, other ferrous products, and logistic services.