Stephens Inc. AR Sells 17,831 Shares of Rio Tinto PLC $RIO

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its stake in Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE:RIO) by 22.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 62,042 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 17,831 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Rio Tinto were worth $3,619,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Rio Tinto by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 8,368,620 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $502,787,000 after purchasing an additional 326,661 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its position in shares of Rio Tinto by 77,150.0% in the 1st quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 7,416,000 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $445,553,000 after purchasing an additional 7,406,400 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Rio Tinto in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $292,770,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Rio Tinto by 33.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,938,247 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $116,510,000 after acquiring an additional 490,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Rio Tinto by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,663,964 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $99,971,000 after acquiring an additional 60,927 shares during the last quarter. 19.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on RIO shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Rio Tinto in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Berenberg Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Rio Tinto in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Rio Tinto in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Rio Tinto from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Rio Tinto in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Rio Tinto has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.00.

Rio Tinto Price Performance

Shares of RIO opened at $68.48 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $85.88 billion, a PE ratio of 10.62, a P/E/G ratio of 5.50 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.13. Rio Tinto PLC has a 1-year low of $51.67 and a 1-year high of $69.30.

Rio Tinto Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a yield of 620.0%. Rio Tinto’s payout ratio is currently 45.74%.

Rio Tinto Company Profile

Rio Tinto Group engages in exploring, mining, and processing mineral resources worldwide. The company operates through Iron Ore, Aluminium, Copper, and Minerals Segments. The Iron Ore segment engages in the iron ore mining, and salt and gypsum production in Western Australia. The Aluminum segment is involved in bauxite mining; alumina refining; and aluminium smelting.