Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Reduces Holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky trimmed its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 4.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,993,310 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 94,300 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Vale were worth $22,265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 17,932 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $200,000 after buying an additional 1,154 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Vale by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 62,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $693,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Vale by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 19,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares during the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Vale by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 22,702 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Vale by 3.0% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 48,109 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on VALE shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Vale from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Vale from $16.50 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Vale from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.17.

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of VALE stock opened at $11.72 on Wednesday. Vale S.A. has a 12-month low of $9.66 and a 12-month high of $16.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.43.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $9.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.97 billion. Vale had a net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 22.23%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Vale S.A. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a $0.3698 dividend. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.32. This represents a dividend yield of 12.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.09%.

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.