Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.06 Per Share

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, October 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.0637 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, December 22nd. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 12th. This is a 42.1% increase from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.0448.

Gerdau has raised its dividend by an average of 0.2% per year over the last three years. Gerdau has a dividend payout ratio of 55.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Gerdau to earn $0.62 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.21 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.9%.

Gerdau Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GGB opened at $4.58 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $4.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.48. The firm has a market cap of $9.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.79 and a beta of 1.55. Gerdau has a 52 week low of $3.14 and a 52 week high of $5.48. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.03). Gerdau had a return on equity of 8.90% and a net margin of 4.06%. The business had revenue of $3.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.64 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Gerdau will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on GGB shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Gerdau from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Gerdau from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Gerdau from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Gerdau to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered shares of Gerdau from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.65.

About Gerdau

Gerdau is a Brazilian steel producer with roots dating to 1901, when João Gerdau established a nail factory in Porto Alegre. The company has since grown into a major producer of long steel products and a supplier of special steel.

Its products serve construction, manufacturing, automotive, agricultural and other industrial markets. Gerdau makes items such as reinforcing steel, wire rod, structural shapes and specialty steel, and also has iron ore mining operations in Brazil. Its steelmaking relies substantially on recycling scrap metal.

Gerdau serves customers across the Americas, with operations in Brazil, the United States, Canada and several Latin American countries.