Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) Raises Dividend to $0.02 Per Share

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB - Get Free Report) declared a dividend on Tuesday, May 6th, investing.com reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.0188 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This is a 373.8% increase from Gerdau's previous dividend of $0.00396825396825397.

Gerdau has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 20.6% per year over the last three years. Gerdau has a payout ratio of 23.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Gerdau to earn $0.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.09 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.1%.

Gerdau Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:GGB traded up $0.02 during trading on Friday, reaching $2.62. 14,773,544 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,258,518. Gerdau has a 52-week low of $2.27 and a 52-week high of $4.04. The stock has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $2.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.66 billion. Gerdau had a return on equity of 7.74% and a net margin of 7.03%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Gerdau will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target 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 reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Gerdau in a report on Monday, April 7th.

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.