Rafael Dorneles Japur Sells 10,000 Shares of Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) Stock

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) CFO Rafael Dorneles Japur sold 10,000 shares of Gerdau stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.10, for a total transaction of $51,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 86,967 shares in the company, valued at $443,531.70. The trade was a 10.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Rafael Dorneles Japur also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, May 22nd, Rafael Dorneles Japur sold 5,000 shares of Gerdau stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.75, for a total transaction of $23,750.00.

Gerdau Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Gerdau stock traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $4.97. 6,857,125 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,629,936. The stock has a market cap of $9.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.61 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a 50 day moving average of $4.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Gerdau S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $2.85 and a fifty-two week high of $5.18.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15. Gerdau had a return on equity of 7.97% and a net margin of 3.37%.The business had revenue of $3.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.0448 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 21st. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is an increase from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.17%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gerdau

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Gerdau during the 2nd quarter valued at $16,291,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Gerdau by 11,393.6% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 13,222,623 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,734,000 after purchasing an additional 13,107,580 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Gerdau by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,421,830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,133,000 after buying an additional 62,607 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 57.6% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,243 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 4,842 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 76.1% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,936,524 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,481,000 after buying an additional 4,725,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GGB shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gerdau from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Gerdau from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $5.25 target price (up from $4.60) on shares of Gerdau in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.28.

About Gerdau

Gerdau SA is a Brazilian-based steel producer engaged in the manufacture and distribution of long steel products for the construction, industrial and agricultural sectors. Established in 1901, the company operates an integrated network of electric-arc furnaces and rolling mills, producing reinforcement bars, wire rod, merchant bars and structural shapes. Gerdau’s product portfolio also includes specialty long steel, high-yield reinforcement, rail, beams and steel coils, as well as value-added processing services such as cutting, bending and coating.

The company has expanded its footprint beyond Brazil, with significant operations in North America, South America and a presence in select European markets.