Gerdau S.A. $GGB Stake Boosted by Jump Financial LLC

Key Points

• Jump Financial LLC increased its holdings in Gerdau S.A. by 48.2% during the first quarter, now owning 391,728 shares valued at $1,113,000.
• UBS Group upgraded Gerdau from a "neutral" to a "buy" rating, raising its price target from $2.90 to $3.80, maintaining a consensus average rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Gerdau recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.0216 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.8%.

Jump Financial LLC increased its holdings in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB - Free Report) by 48.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 391,728 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 127,319 shares during the quarter. Jump Financial LLC's holdings in Gerdau were worth $1,113,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. grew its stake in Gerdau by 97.1% during the 1st quarter. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. now owns 60,900 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $173,000 after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Gerdau during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,275,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Gerdau by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,650,409 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,367,000 after purchasing an additional 294,513 shares in the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation acquired a new stake in Gerdau during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $354,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in Gerdau during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $314,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.49% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Gerdau Stock Performance

NYSE:GGB traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $3.03. 11,305,726 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,469,382. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.86. Gerdau S.A. has a 52 week low of $2.27 and a 52 week high of $3.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.0216 per share. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Gerdau's previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 13th. Gerdau's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.