Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) Stock: Insider Claudio Johannpeter Sells 85,607 Shares

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) Chairman Claudio Johannpeter sold 85,607 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.94, for a total value of $422,898.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Gerdau Price Performance

GGB traded up $0.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $4.84. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,744,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,287,971. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07 and a beta of 1.49. Gerdau S.A. has a 12 month low of $3.06 and a 12 month high of $5.18. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $4.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.45.

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

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st were paid a $0.0448 dividend. This is a boost from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.0361. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 21st. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.22%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gerdau

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the 2nd quarter worth $70,663,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 11,393.6% in 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 period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Gerdau by 76.1% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,936,524 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,481,000 after purchasing an additional 4,725,200 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Gerdau during the second quarter worth about $16,291,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its position in Gerdau by 124.7% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 7,010,275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,322,000 after purchasing an additional 3,890,093 shares during the period. 1.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GGB has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $6.10 price target (up from $5.70) on shares of Gerdau in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gerdau from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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. Itau BBA Securities downgraded shares of Gerdau from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, HSBC cut Gerdau from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.57.

About Gerdau

Gerdau SA is a Brazil-based steel producer whose American depositary shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GGB. The company manufactures and sells steel products for construction, industrial, agricultural, automotive and other end markets.

Its product portfolio includes long steel products such as rebar, wire rod, structural sections and merchant bars, as well as specialty steel and selected flat steel products. Gerdau also operates steel mills and scrap-processing facilities, using recycled ferrous scrap as an important raw material, and has activities connected with iron ore and other steelmaking inputs.

Founded in 1901, Gerdau has expanded from its Brazilian origins into one of the major steel producers in the Americas.