Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) Stock Has Average Price Target of $5.57 According to Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts rate Gerdau “Moderate Buy”, with three buy ratings, one strong-buy, and five holds. The average 12-month price target is $5.57, compared with the stock’s recent price of $5.03.
• Gerdau matched quarterly EPS expectations at $0.15 and exceeded revenue estimates with $3.45 billion in sales. The company also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.0448 per share, implying a 3.6% annual yield.
• Institutional investors increased their exposure, but company insiders sold 147,407 shares worth approximately $737,561 over the past 90 days. Recent analyst actions were mixed, including downgrades from Bank of America and HSBC and an upgraded price target from UBS.

Shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the nine research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $5.57.

A number of brokerages recently commented on GGB. Bank of America downgraded shares of Gerdau from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $5.10 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, August 20th. HSBC lowered shares of Gerdau from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $6.10 price objective (up from $5.70) on shares of Gerdau in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Gerdau to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Itau BBA Securities downgraded shares of Gerdau from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gerdau news, CFO Rafael Japur sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.10, for a total value of $51,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 86,967 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $443,531.70. This represents a 10.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Rafael Lopes sold 51,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.09, for a total value of $263,662.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 83,399 shares in the company, valued at $424,500.91. This represents a 38.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 147,407 shares of company stock valued at $737,561 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gerdau

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ninety One UK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the third quarter worth about $145,390,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. acquired a new stake in Gerdau during the second quarter worth about $70,663,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Gerdau by 11,393.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 13,107,580 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Gerdau by 76.1% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,936,524 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $39,481,000 after acquiring an additional 4,725,200 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One North America Inc. purchased a new position in Gerdau during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,760,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.49% of the company's stock.

Gerdau Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of GGB stock opened at $5.03 on Friday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $4.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.86 billion, a PE ratio of 21.85 and a beta of 1.48. Gerdau has a fifty-two week low of $3.14 and a fifty-two week high of $5.48.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $3.41 billion. Equities analysts expect that Gerdau will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.0448 per share. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Gerdau's previous quarterly dividend of $0.0361. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 21st. Gerdau's dividend payout ratio is 65.22%.

About Gerdau

Gerdau SA is a Brazilian steel producer and one of the major suppliers of long steel in the Americas. The company manufactures products including rebar, wire rod, structural shapes, merchant bars and other steel products used in construction, infrastructure, industrial manufacturing and agricultural equipment.

Gerdau also produces special steel for the automotive, machinery and other industrial sectors, as well as flat steel products through its operations in Brazil. Its business includes steel recycling, with a significant portion of its production based on ferrous scrap, and the company operates a network of steel mills, fabrication facilities and distribution centers.

Founded in Brazil in 1901, Gerdau serves customers across Brazil, North America and South America.

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