Millennium Management LLC Buys 2,579,621 Shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)

Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB - Free Report) by 1,062.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,822,453 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 2,579,621 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned 0.14% of Gerdau worth $8,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GGB. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Gerdau by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 98,194,996 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $282,802,000 after buying an additional 9,215,971 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Gerdau by 130.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 10,095,722 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $29,076,000 after purchasing an additional 5,718,323 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new position in Gerdau in the 4th quarter worth $9,775,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Gerdau by 138.7% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,606,824 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $16,148,000 after purchasing an additional 3,257,463 shares during the period. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its position in Gerdau by 48.0% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 1,557,174 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.49% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on GGB. Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Gerdau in a research report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Gerdau from $3.30 to $2.90 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th.

Gerdau Trading Down 3.2%

NYSE:GGB traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $2.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,720,837 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,446,076. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.40 and a beta of 1.43. Gerdau S.A. has a 1 year low of $2.27 and a 1 year high of $3.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.93.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a $0.0188 dividend. This represents a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Gerdau's previous dividend of $0.00. Gerdau's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.14%.

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.