259,660 Shares in Gerdau S.A. $GGB Acquired by Strs Ohio

Key Points

• Strs Ohio has acquired a new position in Gerdau S.A., purchasing 259,660 shares valued at approximately $737,000 during the 1st quarter.
• UBS Group upgraded Gerdau from a "neutral" to a "buy" rating, increasing the price target from $2.90 to $3.80.
• Gerdau recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.0216 per share, up from the previous $0.02, reflecting a yield of 2.8% for shareholders.

Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 259,660 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $737,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wolverine Trading LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Xponance Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Sigma Planning Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the first quarter valued at approximately $46,000. R Squared Ltd lifted its position 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 buying an additional 10,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abacus Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 3,873 shares during the last quarter. 1.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, UBS Group raised 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 report on Monday, June 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from 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 up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $3.21. 1,429,970 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,541,746. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.38. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $3.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.89. Gerdau S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $2.27 and a fifty-two week high of $3.62.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were paid a $0.0216 dividend. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 13th. This is a positive change from Gerdau's previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. Gerdau's dividend 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.