Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lowered its position in shares of Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,501 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,000 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Vale were worth $466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Vale by 62.9% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $195,000 after purchasing an additional 6,443 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its position in shares of Vale by 62.4% in the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 108,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,270,000 after purchasing an additional 41,800 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vale by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 238,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,782,000 after buying an additional 32,462 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Vale by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,906,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $139,073,000 after buying an additional 53,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Vale by 10.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,404,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $203,290,000 after buying an additional 1,682,544 shares during the last quarter. 21.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vale Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:VALE opened at $10.08 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $45.73 billion, a PE ratio of 7.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.90. Vale S.A. has a 12 month low of $8.38 and a 12 month high of $13.14.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.36). The firm had revenue of $10.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Vale Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a dividend 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VALE shares. Morgan Stanley cut 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 research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Vale from $16.00 to $15.25 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. 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 downgraded shares of Vale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.26.

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.