Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on GGB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Gerdau from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. HSBC downgraded Gerdau from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Gerdau from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Gerdau to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities cut Gerdau from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.57.

Gerdau Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of GGB stock opened at $5.12 on Friday. Gerdau has a 12-month low of $3.14 and a 12-month high of $5.48. The company has a market capitalization of $10.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 1.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $4.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.63. 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 (NYSE:GGB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15. The firm had revenue of $3.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 7.97%. Research analysts forecast that Gerdau will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.0448 per share. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 21st. This is a positive change from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.0361. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Rafael Lopes sold 51,800 shares of Gerdau stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.09, for a total transaction of $263,662.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 83,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $424,500.91. The trade was a 38.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Rafael Japur sold 10,000 shares of Gerdau stock in a transaction 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 approximately $443,531.70. This trade represents a 10.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 147,407 shares of company stock valued at $737,561 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gerdau

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGB. Greenspring Advisors LLC bought a new position in Gerdau during the second quarter worth about $47,000. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gerdau during the 1st quarter worth about $43,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the 1st quarter valued at about $45,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the 1st quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Gerdau by 57.6% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,243 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 4,842 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

About Gerdau

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.