Advisors Asset Management Inc. Sells 43,239 Shares of Gerdau S.A. $GGB

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) by 33.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 87,690 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 43,239 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Gerdau were worth $249,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GGB. Carrhae Capital LLP bought a new position in shares of Gerdau during the 1st quarter valued at $18,655,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 107.4% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 12,645,660 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,420,000 after purchasing an additional 6,548,200 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 130.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 10,095,722 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,076,000 after purchasing an additional 5,718,323 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in Gerdau by 49.9% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 14,804,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $42,637,000 after acquiring an additional 4,928,378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Gerdau by 1,062.3% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,822,453 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,129,000 after acquiring an additional 2,579,621 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Gerdau Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of GGB opened at $3.13 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $3.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.78, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Gerdau S.A. has a 1-year low of $2.27 and a 1-year high of $3.62.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.08 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 6.51%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.46 EPS for the current year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.