Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) Rating Lowered to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on GGB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Gerdau from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Weiss Ratings raised Gerdau from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Bank of America lowered shares of Gerdau from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.10 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. HSBC cut Gerdau from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities upgraded Gerdau from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Gerdau has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.65.

Gerdau Stock Down 0.2%

GGB opened at $4.65 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $4.90 and its 200 day moving average is $4.46. Gerdau has a fifty-two week low of $3.14 and a fifty-two week high of $5.48. The stock has a market cap of $9.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.61 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.87.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 8.90%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Gerdau will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Rafael Japur sold 10,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 86,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $443,531.70. The trade was a 10.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Claudio Johannpeter sold 85,607 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.94, for a total value of $422,898.58. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 147,407 shares of company stock valued at $737,561 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gerdau

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the 3rd quarter worth $94,000. Vise Technologies Inc. grew its stake in Gerdau by 78.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 32,865 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $155,000 after acquiring an additional 14,465 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Gerdau by 17.8% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 17,348 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 2,623 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 51.5% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 310,728 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,467,000 after buying an additional 105,585 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Gerdau by 10.4% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,452,408 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,015,000 after buying an additional 419,918 shares in the last quarter. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gerdau Company Profile

Gerdau SA is a Brazil-based steel producer with operations across the Americas. The company manufactures and sells steel products for the construction, industrial, automotive, agricultural and infrastructure markets.

Its product portfolio includes long steel products such as rebar, wire rod, merchant bars and structural shapes, as well as special steel used in automotive and industrial applications. Gerdau also produces flat steel and semi-finished products, including billets and slabs, and operates steel mills, scrap-processing facilities and related distribution networks.

Founded in 1901, Gerdau has grown from a regional Brazilian steelmaker into an international producer serving customers in Brazil, North America and other parts of Latin America.