Summit Financial LLC Makes New $231,000 Investment in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Summit Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 26,034 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Vale by 328.3% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 17,349,581 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $153,891,000 after acquiring an additional 13,298,912 shares during the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD increased its position in shares of Vale by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 11,754,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $109,202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381,475 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Vale by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,117,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $129,858,000 after purchasing an additional 507,245 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 9,965,672 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $88,396,000 after buying an additional 2,014,652 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in Vale by 106.0% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 9,721,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $86,226,000 after buying an additional 5,001,228 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of VALE opened at $9.10 on Friday. Vale S.A. has a 52-week low of $8.38 and a 52-week high of $13.14. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.3758 per share. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. This represents a dividend yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Vale’s payout ratio is 52.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Vale in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $14.50 to $11.30 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Vale currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.86.

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.