Gerdau S.A. $GGB Shares Acquired by Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) by 50.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,036,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,358,300 shares during the quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings in Gerdau were worth $11,787,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Xponance Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Sigma Planning Corp purchased a new stake in Gerdau during the first quarter worth $46,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Gerdau by 147.9% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 392,274 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after buying an additional 234,015 shares in the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the 1st quarter worth about $451,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Gerdau by 467.5% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,425,593 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,889,000 after acquiring an additional 1,998,206 shares during the period. 1.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GGB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Gerdau from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gerdau in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $3.80.

Gerdau Stock Performance

Shares of Gerdau stock opened at $3.54 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $3.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.05. The company has a market cap of $7.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.19, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.89. Gerdau S.A. has a one year low of $2.27 and a one year high of $3.66.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.81 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 6.51%. On average, research analysts predict that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.46 EPS for the current year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be issued a $0.0521 dividend. This is an increase from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.21 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.9%. Gerdau’s payout ratio is presently 70.37%.

Gerdau Profile

Gerdau SA, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a steel producer company. The company operates through Brazil Business, North America Business, South America Business, and Special Steel Business segments. It also provides semi-finished products, including billets, blooms, and slabs; common long rolled products, such as rebars, wire rods, merchant bars, light shapes, and profiles to the construction and manufacturing industries; drawn products comprising barbed and barbless fence wires, galvanized wires, fences, concrete reinforcing wire mesh, nails, and clamps for manufacturing, construction, and agricultural industries; and special steel products used in auto parts, light and heavy vehicles, and agricultural machinery, as well as in the oil and gas, wind energy, machinery and equipment, mining and rail, and other markets.