Acadian Asset Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Gerdau S.A. $GGB

Key Points

• Acadian Asset Management LLC has significantly reduced its stake in Gerdau S.A. by 70.3%, selling over 7.8 million shares and ending with approximately 3.3 million shares worth about $9.4 million.
• Gerdau S.A. recently reported earnings of $0.08 EPS for the last quarter, missing the estimate and generating a revenue of $3.13 billion, which fell short of analysts' expectations.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.0216 per share, raising its annualized dividend yield to 2.8% from the previous $0.02 payment.

Acadian Asset Management LLC cut its position in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB - Free Report) by 70.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,307,702 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 7,819,934 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.16% of Gerdau worth $9,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wolverine Trading LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gerdau in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Xponance Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Gerdau in the first quarter valued at about $40,000. Sigma Planning Corp acquired a new position in shares of Gerdau in the first quarter valued at about $46,000. R Squared Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 84.0% in the first quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 22,930 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 10,470 shares during the period. Finally, Abacus Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 16.8% in the first quarter. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 26,949 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 3,873 shares during the period. 1.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gerdau Stock Performance

GGB remained flat at $3.14 during trading on Wednesday. The company's stock had a trading volume of 17,107,631 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,498,884. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Gerdau S.A. has a one year low of $2.27 and a one year high of $3.62. The business's fifty day moving average price is $3.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.87. The company has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.38.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.01). Gerdau had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 6.51%. The business had revenue of $3.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were issued a $0.0216 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 13th. This is an increase from Gerdau's previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Gerdau's dividend payout ratio is 27.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, UBS Group raised Gerdau from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $2.90 to $3.80 in a report on Monday, June 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $3.80.

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.