Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. Invests $426,000 in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. bought a new stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 47,980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $426,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 215.9% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,780 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in Vale by 206.4% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Vale in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in Vale by 3,092.0% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 3,192 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 3,092 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Vale during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VALE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $14.00 to $11.50 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vale presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.26.

Vale Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of VALE opened at $9.92 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.95. 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 1 year low of $8.38 and a 1 year high of $13.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.00 billion, a PE ratio of 6.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85.

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

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.3758 per share. This represents a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale’s payout ratio is 88.89%.

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.