American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 294,513 Shares of Gerdau S.A. $GGB

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. has increased its stake in Gerdau S.A. by 8.8%, now owning 3,650,409 shares valued at approximately $10.37 million.
• UBS Group upgraded Gerdau's rating from “neutral” to “buy”, raising the target price from $2.90 to $3.80.
• Gerdau recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.0216 per share, reflecting an increase from the previous dividend of $0.02, with a dividend yield of 2.9%.

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB - Free Report) by 8.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,650,409 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 294,513 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.18% of Gerdau worth $10,367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LGT Group Foundation purchased a new stake in Gerdau in the first quarter worth about $354,000. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in Gerdau in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $314,000. Virtus Family Office LLC increased its holdings in Gerdau by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Virtus Family Office LLC now owns 303,899 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $863,000 after buying an additional 7,247 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Gerdau by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 280,886 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $798,000 after acquiring an additional 8,574 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 84.0% during the 1st quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 22,930 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 10,470 shares during the last quarter. 1.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, UBS Group upgraded shares of 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 issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $3.80.

Gerdau Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Gerdau stock traded up $0.01 on Monday, reaching $3.08. The company had a trading volume of 8,772,889 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,706,767. The firm has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.38. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $2.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.86. Gerdau S.A. has a 1 year low of $2.27 and a 1 year high of $3.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 1.50.

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

Gerdau Increases Dividend

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

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.