Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $4.60.

GGB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gerdau in a report on Friday. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $4.60 price target (up from $4.00) on shares of Gerdau in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Gerdau from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $4.60 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank raised Gerdau from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th.

Insider Activity at Gerdau

In related news, Chairman Guilherme Chagas G. Johannpeter sold 85,607 shares of Gerdau stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.29, for a total transaction of $281,647.03. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Gerdau by 314.9% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 262,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $813,000 after purchasing an additional 199,115 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Gerdau by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 31,046,243 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $96,243,000 after purchasing an additional 581,958 shares in the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Gerdau in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,958,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Gerdau in the second quarter valued at approximately $17,440,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Gerdau during the third quarter valued at approximately $981,000. 1.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Gerdau Stock Performance

GGB traded up $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $3.81. The stock had a trading volume of 2,016,277 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,839,918. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $3.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.66. Gerdau has a one year low of $2.27 and a one year high of $4.66. The firm has a market cap of $7.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.46.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.04). Gerdau had a return on equity of 6.20% and a net margin of 1.93%.The business had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.12 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Gerdau will post 0.46 EPS for the current year.

Gerdau Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.0194 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 12th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Gerdau’s payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

About Gerdau

Gerdau SA is a Brazilian-based steel producer engaged in the manufacture and distribution of long steel products for the construction, industrial and agricultural sectors. Established in 1901, the company operates an integrated network of electric-arc furnaces and rolling mills, producing reinforcement bars, wire rod, merchant bars and structural shapes. Gerdau’s product portfolio also includes specialty long steel, high-yield reinforcement, rail, beams and steel coils, as well as value-added processing services such as cutting, bending and coating.

The company has expanded its footprint beyond Brazil, with significant operations in North America, South America and a presence in select European markets.