Mauricio Metz Sells 5,000 Shares of Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) Stock

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) EVP Mauricio Metz sold 5,000 shares of Gerdau stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.70, for a total value of $23,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 29,536 shares in the company, valued at approximately $138,819.20. The trade was a 14.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Mauricio Metz also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, May 13th, Mauricio Metz sold 5,000 shares of Gerdau stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.85, for a total value of $24,250.00.
• On Tuesday, May 5th, Mauricio Metz sold 2,000 shares of Gerdau stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.69, for a total value of $9,380.00.
• On Tuesday, April 28th, Mauricio Metz sold 1,000 shares of Gerdau stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.53, for a total value of $4,530.00.
• On Friday, April 10th, Mauricio Metz sold 1,000 shares of Gerdau stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.24, for a total value of $4,240.00.

Gerdau Stock Down 3.5%

GGB stock opened at $4.49 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.03 and a beta of 1.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3.99. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Gerdau S.A. has a 1-year low of $2.61 and a 1-year high of $4.98.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.36 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 6.76%. Analysts expect that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.51 EPS for the current year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $0.0361 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This is a boost from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gerdau

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 11,393.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 13,107,580 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. raised its position in shares of Gerdau by 49.2% in the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 24,211,588 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $89,341,000 after acquiring an additional 7,982,296 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Gerdau by 76.1% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,936,524 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,481,000 after acquiring an additional 4,725,200 shares in the last quarter. Causeway Capital Management LLC increased its position in Gerdau by 169.2% during the 3rd quarter. Causeway Capital Management LLC now owns 7,189,270 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,287,000 after buying an additional 4,519,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in Gerdau during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $9,618,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GGB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Gerdau from $5.00 to $5.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gerdau in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Gerdau from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $4.60 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Scotiabank upgraded Gerdau from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $5.25 target price (up from $4.60) on shares of Gerdau in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gerdau has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.12.

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.