Capital International Investors Sells 3,630,809 Shares of Gerdau S.A. $GGB

Capital International Investors reduced its stake in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) by 11.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 27,415,434 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,630,809 shares during the quarter. Capital International Investors’ holdings in Gerdau were worth $101,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aquamarine Financial Cayman Ltd increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Aquamarine Financial Cayman Ltd now owns 19,526,171 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $72,052,000 after acquiring an additional 1,724,943 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 22.4% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,894,871 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,482 shares in the last quarter. Causeway Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 169.2% during the third quarter. Causeway Capital Management LLC now owns 7,189,270 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,287,000 after acquiring an additional 4,519,092 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 47.6% during the third quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 5,435,331 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,850,000 after acquiring an additional 1,752,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 20.0% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,821,008 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,945,000 after acquiring an additional 804,259 shares in the last quarter. 1.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Gerdau

In other news, insider Clemir Uhlein sold 38,276 shares of Gerdau stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.51, for a total transaction of $172,624.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chia Yuan Wang sold 76,700 shares of Gerdau stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.49, for a total transaction of $344,383.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 92,195 shares in the company, valued at $413,955.55. This represents a 45.41% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 879,791 shares of company stock worth $3,978,923. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Gerdau Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of GGB stock opened at $4.58 on Tuesday. Gerdau S.A. has a 12-month low of $2.80 and a 12-month high of $4.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $4.40 and its 200 day moving average is $4.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.60 and a beta of 1.48.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.36 billion. Gerdau had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 2.40%. Research analysts expect that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

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

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.