Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) Shares Sold by Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 542,573 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 6,868 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Gerdau were worth $1,899,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Gerdau by 0.4% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 92,086,997 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $407,025,000 after purchasing an additional 378,125 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Gerdau by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,005,117 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,825,000 after buying an additional 2,100,969 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Gerdau by 48.1% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 13,391,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,181,000 after buying an additional 4,351,666 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 1,988.2% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 6,186,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,414,000 after buying an additional 5,889,913 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 27.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,752,405 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,083,000 after acquiring an additional 599,700 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Gerdau Price Performance

GGB stock opened at $3.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.74. Gerdau S.A. has a 52-week low of $2.92 and a 52-week high of $4.21. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $3.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.34.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 8.43%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a $0.055 dividend. This is an increase from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.11%.

Gerdau 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.