Ethic Inc. Raises Holdings in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)

Ethic Inc. raised its position in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB - Free Report) by 158.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 297,141 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 182,201 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Gerdau were worth $856,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GGB. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 98,194,996 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $282,802,000 after purchasing an additional 9,215,971 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Gerdau by 130.6% during 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 buying an additional 5,718,323 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in Gerdau during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,775,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 138.7% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,606,824 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $16,148,000 after acquiring an additional 3,257,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Gerdau by 48.0% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 1,557,174 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.49% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Gerdau from $3.30 to $2.90 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Gerdau in a research note on Monday, April 7th.

Gerdau Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GGB traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $2.77. 930,663 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,330,752. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market cap of $5.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.95. Gerdau S.A. has a twelve month low of $2.27 and a twelve month high of $3.79.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.06. Gerdau had a net margin of 7.03% and a return on equity of 7.74%. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.66 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.0188 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Gerdau's previous dividend of $0.00. This represents a dividend yield of 2.95%. 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.