Russell Investments Group Ltd. Lowers Stock Position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. cut its holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 14.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,713,978 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 969,769 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.13% of Vale worth $76,682,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VALE. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in Vale by 83.4% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 532,916 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,409,000 after buying an additional 242,405 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 16.9% during the second quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 28,665 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 4,153 shares in the last quarter. Psagot Value Holdings Ltd. Israel bought a new position in shares of Vale during the first quarter valued at $40,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Vale by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 733,082 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,568,000 after purchasing an additional 38,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Vale by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 22,304,788 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $351,970,000 after purchasing an additional 876,409 shares in the last quarter. 16.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $18.00 in a report on Friday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Vale from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 14th. Citigroup upgraded Vale from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Monday, October 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.72.

Vale Stock Up 0.9 %

VALE opened at $15.21 on Friday. Vale S.A. has a 52 week low of $12.22 and a 52 week high of $19.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.65. The company has a market capitalization of $68.17 billion, a PE ratio of 7.28 and a beta of 0.90.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.05. Vale had a return on equity of 23.82% and a net margin of 22.84%. The company had revenue of $10.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 8th. Investors of record on Friday, November 24th will be given a $0.1541 dividend. This represents a yield of 8.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 22nd. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.58%.

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.