Brokerages Set Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) PT at $5.45

Shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $5.5750.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GGB. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Gerdau to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Gerdau from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $6.10 price target (up from $5.70) on shares of Gerdau in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. HSBC cut shares of Gerdau from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities downgraded shares of Gerdau from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th.

Insider Transactions at Gerdau

In other news, insider Marcos Zilles Mattiello sold 10,387 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.11, for a total transaction of $53,077.57. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gustavo Werneck da Cunha purchased 165,224 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $4.73 per share, with a total value of $781,509.52. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 165,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $781,509.52. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GGB. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Gerdau by 45.1% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,034,398 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,197,000 after acquiring an additional 943,254 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Gerdau by 282.3% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,078,917 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,895,000 after purchasing an additional 796,724 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Gerdau by 11,393.6% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 13,222,623 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,734,000 after purchasing an additional 13,107,580 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its holdings in Gerdau by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 24,211,588 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $89,341,000 after purchasing an additional 7,982,296 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Gerdau during the second quarter valued at $16,291,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Gerdau Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE GGB opened at $4.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.87. Gerdau has a 1 year low of $3.03 and a 1 year high of $5.18. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.34. The firm has a market cap of $9.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.65 and a beta of 1.49.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15. Gerdau had a return on equity of 7.97% and a net margin of 3.37%.The firm had revenue of $3.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Gerdau will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be paid a $0.0448 dividend. This is a boost from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 21st. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.22%.

Gerdau Company 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.