Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) Short Interest Update

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,420,000 shares, a growth of 366.7% from the May 31st total of 1,590,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 9,280,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.8 days. Currently, 0.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gerdau

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. ARGA Investment Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 186,227 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $903,000 after purchasing an additional 4,484 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Gerdau by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 33,987 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 4,678 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Gerdau by 175.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,074 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 5,138 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Gerdau by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 28,166 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 5,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Gerdau by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 17,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 6,909 shares during the last quarter. 1.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Gerdau from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $4.17 to $5.00 in a report on Monday, April 15th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Gerdau from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $4.50 to $5.00 in a research report on Friday, May 24th.

Gerdau Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE GGB traded up $0.01 during trading on Thursday, hitting $3.31. The stock had a trading volume of 6,804,654 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,497,667. Gerdau has a 12 month low of $3.06 and a 12 month high of $5.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $6.98 billion, a PE ratio of 5.44 and a beta of 1.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $3.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.59.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The basic materials company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 11.04%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Gerdau will post 0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.055 per share. This represents a $0.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. This is a positive change from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.16%.

About Gerdau

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