Townsquare Capital LLC Raises Holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 50.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 25,412 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,485 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $225,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VALE. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 47,163,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $418,338,000 after buying an additional 10,557,888 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Vale by 328.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 17,349,581 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $153,891,000 after purchasing an additional 13,298,912 shares during the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD increased its holdings in shares of Vale by 13.3% in the fourth 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 period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Vale by 25.3% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 2,014,652 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $86,226,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,228 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of VALE stock opened at $9.44 on Wednesday. Vale S.A. has a 1-year low of $8.06 and a 1-year high of $13.14. The company has a market cap of $42.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.56, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.66.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted 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). Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. The company had revenue of $10.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.03 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid 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 yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Vale’s payout ratio is 52.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on VALE shares. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Vale from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Vale in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Bank of America raised shares of Vale from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $11.00 to $11.50 in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Wolfe Research upgraded Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Vale from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.44.

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.