Fifth Third Bancorp Lowers Stock Holdings in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE)

Fifth Third Bancorp lowered its stake in Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,592 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 7,558 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Vale were worth $308,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Vale by 919.2% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 44,590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $707,000 after purchasing an additional 40,215 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vale by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 18,016 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 2,399 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Vale during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Vale by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 79,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,256,000 after acquiring an additional 5,180 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its position in Vale by 46.0% in the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 47,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $760,000 after purchasing an additional 15,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 21.85% of the company’s stock.

Vale Stock Performance

VALE opened at $10.44 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $46.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.77, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.96. Vale S.A. has a 1-year low of $9.66 and a 1-year high of $16.08.

Vale (NYSE:VALE) last released its earnings results 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. Vale had a net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 22.23%. The company had revenue of $9.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.97 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Vale S.A. will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vale Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on VALE. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Vale from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Vale from $18.00 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Vale from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.72.

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.