Engineers Gate Manager LP Increases Holdings in Gerdau S.A. $GGB

Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its position in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) by 124.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,010,275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,890,093 shares during the quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP’s holdings in Gerdau were worth $28,322,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GGB. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. acquired a new position in Gerdau in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $70,663,000. 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 worth $47,734,000 after purchasing an additional 13,107,580 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 76.1% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,936,524 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,481,000 after purchasing an additional 4,725,200 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Gerdau during the second quarter valued at $16,291,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in Gerdau during the first quarter valued at $9,618,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Gerdau Stock Down 1.1%

GGB stock opened at $5.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.76 and a beta of 1.49. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $4.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Gerdau S.A. has a 52 week low of $3.03 and a 52 week high of $5.18.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.15. The firm had revenue of $3.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 7.97%. Equities analysts forecast that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.0448 per share. This is an increase from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 21st. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on GGB. HSBC downgraded Gerdau from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Gerdau to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Gerdau from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 4th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $6.10 price target (up from $5.70) on shares of Gerdau in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities downgraded Gerdau from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Rafael Japur sold 10,000 shares of Gerdau stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.10, for a total value of $51,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 86,967 shares of the company’s stock, 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 link. Also, CEO Gustavo Werneck da Cunha purchased 165,224 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $4.73 per share, with a total value of $781,509.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 165,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $781,509.52. This represents a ? increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Gerdau Profile

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.