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

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,120,000 shares, a decrease of 35.7% from the June 30th total of 9,520,000 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 8,310,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.7 days.

Gerdau Price Performance

GGB traded down $0.01 during trading on Monday, reaching $3.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,223,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,074,299. The company has a market cap of $6.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.76. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.49. Gerdau has a 1 year low of $3.06 and a 1 year high of $5.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The basic materials company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.03. Gerdau had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 9.57%. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Gerdau will post 0.49 EPS for the current year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were given a $0.055 dividend. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.83%. This is a positive change from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.16%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gerdau

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 5,138 shares during the last quarter. BayBridge Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Gerdau during the fourth quarter worth $330,000. Jump Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Gerdau by 41.4% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 454,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,205,000 after buying an additional 133,175 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP grew its stake 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 valued at $903,000 after buying an additional 4,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BSW Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the 1st quarter valued at $144,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on GGB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Gerdau from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $4.17 to $5.00 in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Bank of America raised shares of Gerdau from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $4.50 to $5.00 in a report on Friday, May 24th.

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.