Appian Way Asset Management LP Invests $393,000 in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)

Appian Way Asset Management LP bought a new position in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 136,391 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $393,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GGB. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Gerdau by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 98,194,996 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $282,802,000 after purchasing an additional 9,215,971 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Gerdau by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,700,747 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $16,418,000 after acquiring an additional 810,621 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Gerdau by 138.7% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,606,824 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $16,148,000 after purchasing an additional 3,257,463 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Gerdau by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 4,803,639 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $13,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,557,174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the fourth quarter valued at about $9,775,000. Institutional investors own 1.49% of the company's stock.

Gerdau Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:GGB traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $2.63. The company had a trading volume of 7,583,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,197,733. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.98. Gerdau S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $2.27 and a fifty-two week high of $4.04. The firm has a market cap of $5.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.10 and a beta of 1.37. The business's fifty day moving average is $2.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.99.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.06. Gerdau had a net margin of 7.03% and a return on equity of 7.74%. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.66 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Gerdau Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.0175 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. Gerdau's payout ratio is 20.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Gerdau from $3.30 to $2.90 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Gerdau in a report on Monday, April 7th.

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.