Ballentine Partners LLC Makes New $52,000 Investment in Gerdau S.A. $GGB

Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new position in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 17,715 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 80.4% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 85,205 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 37,969 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 789.5% during the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 455,053 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,292,000 after acquiring an additional 403,894 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 147.9% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 392,274 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after acquiring an additional 234,015 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the first quarter valued at approximately $737,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 168.3% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 123,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 77,451 shares in the last quarter. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, UBS Group raised shares of Gerdau from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $2.90 to $3.80 in a research report on Monday, June 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3.80.

Gerdau Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Gerdau stock opened at $3.10 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a PE ratio of 10.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.38. Gerdau S.A. has a 1-year low of $2.27 and a 1-year high of $3.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 1.50.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.01). Gerdau had a return on equity of 6.51% and a net margin of 4.81%.The business had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were paid a $0.0216 dividend. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 13th. This is an increase from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.59%.

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.