Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) Sets New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $3.68 and last traded at $3.6550, with a volume of 1708905 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $3.58.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on GGB. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Gerdau from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gerdau in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Gerdau currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $3.80.

Gerdau Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $3.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.12. The stock has a market cap of $7.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.49.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.81 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 5.92%. Equities research analysts forecast that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.0521 per share. This represents a $0.21 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.7%. This is a positive change from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is 74.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gerdau

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in Gerdau by 15.3% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 23,790 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 3,158 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of Gerdau by 22.3% in the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 17,725 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 3,230 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in Gerdau by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 45,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 3,312 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Gerdau by 68.9% during the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,634 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 3,931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Gerdau by 33.4% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 15,933 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 3,988 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

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.