Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) Shares Sold by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lessened its holdings in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB - Free Report) by 13.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,234,444 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,072,544 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 0.64% of Gerdau worth $38,126,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Gerdau by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 98,194,996 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $282,802,000 after buying an additional 9,215,971 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Gerdau by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,700,747 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $16,418,000 after purchasing an additional 810,621 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Gerdau by 138.7% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,606,824 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $16,148,000 after purchasing an additional 3,257,463 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its position in 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 valued at $13,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557,174 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Gerdau by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,355,896 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $9,665,000 after purchasing an additional 188,877 shares in the last quarter. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on Gerdau from $3.30 to $2.90 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Gerdau in a research note on Monday, April 7th.

Gerdau Stock Performance

Shares of GGB stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $2.51. The stock had a trading volume of 5,349,313 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,201,458. The stock's 50 day moving average is $2.73 and its 200 day moving average is $2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a PE ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.43. Gerdau S.A. has a twelve month low of $2.27 and a twelve month high of $4.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 1.53.

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

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.0188 per share. This is a positive change from Gerdau's previous dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.95%. Gerdau's payout ratio is 24.14%.

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.