Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) EVP Sells $33,950.00 in Stock

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) EVP Mauricio Metz sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.85, for a total value of $33,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,536 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $109,299.60. This represents a 23.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Mauricio Metz also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, May 26th, Mauricio Metz sold 5,000 shares of Gerdau stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.70, for a total value of $23,500.00.
• On Wednesday, May 13th, Mauricio Metz sold 5,000 shares of Gerdau stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.85, for a total value of $24,250.00.
• On Tuesday, May 5th, Mauricio Metz sold 2,000 shares of Gerdau stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.69, for a total value of $9,380.00.
• On Tuesday, April 28th, Mauricio Metz sold 1,000 shares of Gerdau stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.53, for a total value of $4,530.00.
• On Friday, April 10th, Mauricio Metz sold 1,000 shares of Gerdau stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.24, for a total value of $4,240.00.

Gerdau Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of GGB stock opened at $4.58 on Friday. Gerdau S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $2.80 and a fifty-two week high of $4.98. The stock has a market cap of $9.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.60 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 2.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.05). Gerdau had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 6.76%. The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.36 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be 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 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.00%.

Institutional Trading of Gerdau

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Gerdau by 11,393.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 13,222,623 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,734,000 after acquiring an additional 13,107,580 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Gerdau by 4.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,421,830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,133,000 after acquiring an additional 62,607 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Gerdau by 57.6% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,243 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 4,842 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Gerdau by 76.1% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,936,524 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,481,000 after buying an additional 4,725,200 shares during the period. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in Gerdau during the first quarter worth about $272,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GGB. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gerdau in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Scotiabank raised Gerdau from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Itau BBA Securities raised Gerdau from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $4.60 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $5.25 price objective (up from $4.60) on shares of Gerdau in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Gerdau from $5.00 to $5.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.12.

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.