Jane Street Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)

Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB - Free Report) by 221.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,236,271 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 851,203 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC owned about 0.06% of Gerdau worth $3,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGB. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gerdau by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 98,194,996 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $282,802,000 after acquiring an additional 9,215,971 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Gerdau by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,700,747 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $16,418,000 after purchasing an additional 810,621 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 3,257,463 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its holdings in 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 valued at $13,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557,174 shares during the period. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in Gerdau in the fourth quarter valued at $9,775,000. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Gerdau Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GGB traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $2.81. The company had a trading volume of 26,544,918 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,353,251. The company's 50-day moving average price is $2.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Gerdau S.A. has a one year low of $2.27 and a one year high of $3.96. The firm has a market cap of $5.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.52 and a beta of 1.43.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.06 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.66 billion. As a group, equities research 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 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.0188 per share. This represents a yield of 2.95%. This is a positive change from Gerdau's previous dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Gerdau's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.14%.

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.