Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Sells 1,032,200 Shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. trimmed its holdings in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB - Free Report) by 35.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,855,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,032,200 shares during the quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. owned approximately 0.09% of Gerdau worth $5,361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC grew 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 buying an additional 9,215,971 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new position in shares of Gerdau in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,775,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Gerdau by 138.7% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $13,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557,174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in Gerdau by 221.1% during the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,236,271 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,560,000 after buying an additional 851,203 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.49% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GGB shares. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Gerdau from $3.30 to $2.90 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Gerdau in a research note on Monday, April 7th.

Gerdau Stock Up 0.6 %

GGB stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $2.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,440,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,195,597. The company has a market capitalization of $5.33 billion, a PE ratio of 5.97 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $2.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Gerdau S.A. has a 12 month low of $2.27 and a 12 month high of $4.04.

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

Gerdau Increases Dividend

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