Park Avenue Securities LLC Takes $29,000 Position in Gerdau S.A. $GGB

Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 10,024 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Gerdau in the first quarter worth $30,134,000. Carrhae Capital LLP bought a new stake in Gerdau in the first quarter worth $18,655,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Gerdau by 54.6% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,363,764 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,393,000 after purchasing an additional 1,541,311 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Gerdau by 8.8% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,650,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,367,000 after purchasing an additional 294,513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position in Gerdau by 44.4% in the first quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 2,678,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,366,000 after purchasing an additional 823,300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Gerdau Stock Up 1.7%

NYSE GGB opened at $3.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a fifty day moving average of $3.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.05, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.43. Gerdau S.A. has a 52 week low of $2.27 and a 52 week high of $3.62.

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

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $0.0216 per share. This is an increase from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 13th. Gerdau’s payout ratio is presently 24.14%.

About Gerdau

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.