Ninety One UK Ltd Makes New Investment in Gerdau S.A. $GGB

Ninety One UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 30,803,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $145,390,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ninety One North America Inc. acquired a new stake in Gerdau during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,760,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Gerdau by 60.9% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 48,434 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $196,000 after purchasing an additional 18,334 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Gerdau by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 82,870 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 6,376 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Gerdau by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 176,888 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 3,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its position in shares of Gerdau by 124.7% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 7,010,275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,322,000 after purchasing an additional 3,890,093 shares in the last quarter. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gerdau Stock Performance

NYSE:GGB traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $5.08. 7,259,012 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,014,063. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07 and a beta of 1.48. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Gerdau S.A. has a 52 week low of $3.14 and a 52 week high of $5.48.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.15. Gerdau had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 7.97%. The business had revenue of $3.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 billion. As a group, sell-side 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 was paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.0448 per share. This is a boost from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.0361. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 21st. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Gerdau’s payout ratio is 65.22%.

Insider Transactions at Gerdau

In other news, Chairman Claudio Johannpeter sold 85,607 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.94, for a total value of $422,898.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Rafael Lopes sold 51,800 shares of Gerdau stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.09, for a total value of $263,662.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 83,399 shares in the company, valued at approximately $424,500.91. The trade was a 38.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 147,407 shares of company stock valued at $737,561. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GGB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC downgraded shares of Gerdau from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Gerdau from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America cut shares of Gerdau from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.10 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Gerdau to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities lowered shares of Gerdau from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.57.

Gerdau Profile

Gerdau SA is a Brazilian steel producer and one of the major suppliers of long steel in the Americas. The company manufactures products including rebar, wire rod, structural shapes, merchant bars and other steel products used in construction, infrastructure, industrial manufacturing and agricultural equipment.

Gerdau also produces special steel for the automotive, machinery and other industrial sectors, as well as flat steel products through its operations in Brazil. Its business includes steel recycling, with a significant portion of its production based on ferrous scrap, and the company operates a network of steel mills, fabrication facilities and distribution centers.

Founded in Brazil in 1901, Gerdau serves customers across Brazil, North America and South America.