Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Monday . 6,869,086 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 13% from the previous session’s volume of 7,913,231 shares.The stock last traded at $3.83 and had previously closed at $3.66.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Gerdau from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $5.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Monday, April 15th.

Gerdau Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $4.31 and a 200 day moving average of $4.46. The company has a market capitalization of $8.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.73.

Gerdau shares are scheduled to split before the market opens on Tuesday, April 30th. The 6-5 split was announced on Tuesday, April 30th. The newly minted shares will be distributed to shareholders after the market closes on Tuesday, April 30th.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter. Gerdau had a return on equity of 15.05% and a net margin of 10.80%. As a group, analysts predict that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.43 EPS for the current year.

Gerdau Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.0202 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GGB. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,708,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $444,788,000 after acquiring an additional 6,268,313 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 233,911.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,559,513 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $102,839,000 after purchasing an additional 21,550,300 shares during the last quarter. Contrarian Capital Management L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Contrarian Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 18,240,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $88,465,000 after purchasing an additional 547,234 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 10,352,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,379,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moneda S.A. Administradora General de Fondos increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 36.8% during the 3rd quarter. Moneda S.A. Administradora General de Fondos now owns 4,759,360 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280,989 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Gerdau Company Profile

Gerdau SA, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a steel producer company. It operates through Brazil Business, North America Business, South America Business, and Special Steel Business divisions. The company 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.