AIA Group Ltd Purchases 42,362 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

AIA Group Ltd lifted its position in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 36.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 158,479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 42,362 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Vale were worth $2,513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its holdings in shares of Vale by 1.7% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Vale by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 10,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $160,000 after purchasing an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Vale by 49,161.5% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,440,413 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,705,000 after purchasing an additional 2,435,459 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Vale by 4.5% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,724,828 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $90,112,000 after acquiring an additional 289,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in Vale during the third quarter worth about $290,000. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VALE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Vale in a research note on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Vale in a research note on Saturday, March 30th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Vale from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Vale from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.67.

Vale Price Performance

Vale stock opened at $11.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.28. Vale S.A. has a 52-week low of $11.52 and a 52-week high of $16.08. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $12.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.47, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.97.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.48). Vale had a return on equity of 20.00% and a net margin of 19.10%. The firm had revenue of $13.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Vale S.A. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a $0.3182 dividend. This represents a yield of 9.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. Vale’s payout ratio is currently 64.48%.

About Vale

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.