Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) Rating Increased to Overweight at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) was upgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $6.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $5.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 40.35% from the stock’s current price.

Gerdau Trading Down 4.1 %

NYSE:GGB opened at $4.28 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of 5.09 and a beta of 1.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $4.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.47. Gerdau has a 12-month low of $4.11 and a 12-month high of $6.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Shares of Gerdau are going to split on Tuesday, April 30th. The 6-5 split was announced on Tuesday, April 30th. The newly minted shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Tuesday, April 30th.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter. Gerdau had a return on equity of 15.05% and a net margin of 10.80%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Gerdau will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Gerdau

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GGB. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 25,222 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 74,615 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 74,364 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying 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 about $69,000. 1.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Gerdau

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.