Brokerages Set Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) PT at $5.12

Shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $5.1167.

Several equities research analysts have commented on GGB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Gerdau from $5.00 to $5.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Gerdau from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $4.60 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Scotiabank upgraded Gerdau from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gerdau in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.25 price objective (up from $4.60) on shares of Gerdau in a report on Wednesday, April 29th.

Gerdau Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:GGB opened at $4.18 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.35 billion, a PE ratio of 26.10 and a beta of 1.48. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.76 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Gerdau has a fifty-two week low of $2.80 and a fifty-two week high of $4.98.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.36 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 6.76%. Sell-side analysts expect that Gerdau will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $0.0361 dividend. This is an increase from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gerdau news, insider Chia Yuan Wang sold 30,935 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.49, for a total transaction of $138,898.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cesar Obino Da Rosa Peres sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.60, for a total value of $36,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 8 shares in the company, valued at $36.80. This trade represents a 99.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 794,184 shares of company stock valued at $3,697,276 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 68.9% during the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,634 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 3,931 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 95.3% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,687 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 5,216 shares during the last quarter. Greenspring Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gerdau during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Gerdau during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Gerdau during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Gerdau Company Profile

Gerdau SA is a Brazilian-based steel producer engaged in the manufacture and distribution of long steel products for the construction, industrial and agricultural sectors. Established in 1901, the company operates an integrated network of electric-arc furnaces and rolling mills, producing reinforcement bars, wire rod, merchant bars and structural shapes. Gerdau’s product portfolio also includes specialty long steel, high-yield reinforcement, rail, beams and steel coils, as well as value-added processing services such as cutting, bending and coating.

The company has expanded its footprint beyond Brazil, with significant operations in North America, South America and a presence in select European markets.