Cerity Partners LLC Has $286,000 Stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 15.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,016 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,399 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,752,878 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $237,889,000 after buying an additional 3,092,376 shares during the last quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 162.4% in the 3rd quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 10,761,377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $144,202,000 after buying an additional 6,660,917 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,090,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $135,212,000 after buying an additional 111,826 shares during the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 9,254,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $124,007,000 after buying an additional 150,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oaktree Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 8,694,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $116,505,000 after buying an additional 911,385 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on VALE shares. StockNews.com began coverage on Vale in a research note on Saturday, March 30th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Vale from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $13.00 price target (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Vale in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Vale from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Vale in a report on Monday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.67.

Vale Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of VALE stock opened at $12.28 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Vale S.A. has a 1 year low of $11.52 and a 1 year high of $16.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.78, a PEG ratio of 5.25 and a beta of 0.97.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released 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 firm had revenue of $13.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.95 billion. Vale had a net margin of 19.10% and a return on equity of 20.00%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 9.7%. Vale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.19%.

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.