Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) Stock Price Target Raised at UBS Group

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) had its price target lifted by research analysts at UBS Group from $6.10 to $6.40 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. UBS Group‘s target price points to a potential upside of 34.31% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Gerdau to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Gerdau from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Gerdau to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 17th. Bank of America lowered shares of Gerdau from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.10 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities upgraded shares of Gerdau from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.65.

Gerdau Trading Up 5.7%

NYSE GGB traded up $0.26 during trading on Thursday, hitting $4.76. The stock had a trading volume of 10,760,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,176,568. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.02 and a beta of 1.48. Gerdau has a one year low of $3.14 and a one year high of $5.48. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.46.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 7.97%. Sell-side analysts predict that Gerdau will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gerdau news, Chairman Claudio Johannpeter sold 85,607 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.94, for a total transaction of $422,898.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rafael Japur sold 10,000 shares of Gerdau stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were 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 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gerdau

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GGB. Ninety One UK Ltd purchased a new position in Gerdau during the 3rd quarter valued at about $145,390,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $70,663,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Gerdau by 11,393.6% in the 1st 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 lifted its position in shares of Gerdau by 76.1% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,936,524 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,481,000 after purchasing an additional 4,725,200 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One North America Inc. bought a new position in shares of Gerdau during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,760,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

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.