Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Buys 5,943 Shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 55.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 16,671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 5,943 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VALE. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vale by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 158,561 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494 shares in the last quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Vale by 16.8% during the third quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 11,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $140,000 after purchasing an additional 1,725 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 215.9% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,780 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Vale by 206.4% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,938 shares during the period. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in Vale by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 9,827 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 2,317 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. 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. Morgan Stanley downgraded Vale from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $14.50 to $11.30 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vale has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.26.

Vale Stock Performance

Shares of VALE stock opened at $10.15 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $9.45 and a 200-day moving average of $9.90. The company has a market cap of $46.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Vale S.A. has a 52 week low of $8.38 and a 52 week high of $13.14.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $10.03 billion. Vale had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 17.38%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current 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 $0.3758 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a yield of 7.5%. This is a positive change from Vale’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.30. Vale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

Vale 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.