Guggenheim Capital LLC Purchases 67,778 Shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)

Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) by 21.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 385,424 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 67,778 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in Gerdau were worth $1,900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Gerdau by 91.2% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 52,892 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 25,222 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Gerdau by 146.8% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 125,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $807,000 after purchasing an additional 74,615 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Gerdau by 160.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 120,578 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $775,000 after purchasing an additional 74,364 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Gerdau by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 320,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,064,000 after purchasing an additional 38,002 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Gerdau during the 1st quarter worth approximately $69,000. Institutional investors own 2.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Scotiabank downgraded shares of Gerdau from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 21st.

Gerdau Stock Performance

NYSE:GGB opened at $5.28 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.94. The company has a fifty day moving average of $5.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.28 billion, a PE ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 1.61. Gerdau S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $4.09 and a fifty-two week high of $6.34.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The basic materials company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.79 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 12.56% and a return on equity of 19.91%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 22nd will be given a $0.0878 dividend. This represents a $0.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.65%. This is a boost from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 21st. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is 46.69%.

Gerdau Profile

Gerdau SA, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a steel producer company. It operates through Brazil Business, North America Business, South America Business, and Special Steel Business divisions. The company 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.