Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 2,072,544 Shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB - Free Report) by 13.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 98,194,996 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $282,802,000 after acquiring an additional 9,215,971 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Gerdau by 138.7% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,606,824 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $16,148,000 after buying an additional 3,257,463 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its holdings in Gerdau by 48.0% during 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 period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Gerdau by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,700,747 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $16,418,000 after acquiring an additional 810,621 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Gerdau by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 1,935,021 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,573,000 after acquiring an additional 639,095 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.49% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on GGB. Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Gerdau in a report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Gerdau from $3.30 to $2.90 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th.

Gerdau Trading Up 0.8 %

Gerdau stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $2.62. The stock had a trading volume of 14,773,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,258,518. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $2.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2.97. The firm has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.09 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 posted 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 net margin of 7.03% and a return on equity of 7.74%. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.66 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

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

Gerdau Company 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.