Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) Shares Bought by BNP Paribas Financial Markets

BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB - Free Report) by 30.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 553,287 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 128,176 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets' holdings in Gerdau were worth $1,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GGB. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 53,736 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $155,000 after purchasing an additional 4,657 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 840,148 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,422,000 after purchasing an additional 5,424 shares during the last quarter. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 23,076 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 5,903 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 70,116 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 6,555 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,032,541 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,974,000 after purchasing an additional 7,492 shares during the last quarter. 1.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Gerdau Stock Performance

GGB stock traded down $0.01 on Friday, reaching $2.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,665,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,396,868. Gerdau S.A. has a 52 week low of $2.27 and a 52 week high of $3.63. The company has a market capitalization of $5.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.30 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $2.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.94. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $2.66 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders 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. This represents a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Gerdau's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Gerdau in a report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Gerdau from $3.30 to $2.90 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th.

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.