Donald Smith & CO. Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Gerdau S.A. $GGB

Donald Smith & CO. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 17,490,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,663,000. Gerdau makes up 1.3% of Donald Smith & CO. Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. owned 0.87% of Gerdau as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GGB. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in Gerdau by 68.9% in the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,634 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 3,931 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 95.3% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,687 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 5,216 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the third quarter worth $34,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the third quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Greenspring Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Marcos Zilles Mattiello sold 10,387 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.11, for a total value of $53,077.57. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chia Yuan Wang sold 30,935 shares of Gerdau stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.49, for a total value of $138,898.15. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 63,322 shares of company stock worth $300,426 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GGB has been the topic of several research reports. HSBC cut shares of Gerdau from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $5.25 target price (up from $4.60) on shares of Gerdau in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Gerdau from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Itau BBA Securities lowered Gerdau from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Bank of America cut Gerdau from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.10 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.24.

Gerdau Stock Performance

Shares of GGB stock opened at $4.32 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market cap of $8.64 billion, a PE ratio of 18.78 and a beta of 1.48. Gerdau S.A. has a 12 month low of $2.88 and a 12 month high of $5.18.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.15. The business had revenue of $3.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.41 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 7.97%. Equities research analysts expect that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.0448 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 21st. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. This is a positive change from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.17%.

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.