Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Buys 386,594 Shares of Gerdau S.A. $GGB

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) by 41.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,327,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 386,594 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 0.07% of Gerdau worth $4,897,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GGB. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 162.6% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,984,389 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,914,000 after purchasing an additional 8,039,814 shares during the period. Causeway Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 169.2% in the third quarter. Causeway Capital Management LLC now owns 7,189,270 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,287,000 after purchasing an additional 4,519,092 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 821.1% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,344,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,657,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089,675 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Gerdau in the second quarter worth $5,690,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Gerdau in the third quarter worth $5,958,000. Institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Gerdau

In other news, Chairman Guilherme Chagas G. Johannpeter sold 85,607 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.29, for a total value of $281,647.03. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chia Yuan Wang sold 34,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.00, for a total value of $136,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 193,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,580. This represents a 14.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 208,026 shares of company stock worth $778,058. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Gerdau Stock Performance

NYSE:GGB opened at $4.27 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.73. Gerdau S.A. has a twelve month low of $2.48 and a twelve month high of $4.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.52 billion, a PE ratio of 35.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.04). Gerdau had a net margin of 1.93% and a return on equity of 6.20%. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.12 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 12th were paid a $0.0194 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 12th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on GGB. Scotiabank raised Gerdau from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Gerdau from $5.00 to $5.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gerdau in a research note on Friday, March 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Gerdau from $4.40 to $4.60 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Itau BBA Securities raised Gerdau from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $4.60 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4.90.

Gerdau Profile

Gerdau SA is a Brazilian-based steel producer engaged in the manufacture and distribution of long steel products for the construction, industrial and agricultural sectors. Established in 1901, the company operates an integrated network of electric-arc furnaces and rolling mills, producing reinforcement bars, wire rod, merchant bars and structural shapes. Gerdau’s product portfolio also includes specialty long steel, high-yield reinforcement, rail, beams and steel coils, as well as value-added processing services such as cutting, bending and coating.

The company has expanded its footprint beyond Brazil, with significant operations in North America, South America and a presence in select European markets.