Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda Takes $9.62 Million Position in Gerdau S.A. $GGB

Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 2,664,158 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,618,000. Gerdau comprises 1.8% of Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GGB. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Gerdau by 68.9% during the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,634 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 3,931 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Gerdau by 95.3% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,687 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 5,216 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Gerdau during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Greenspring Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Gerdau during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. 1.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Gerdau news, CEO Cunha Gustavo Werneck Da sold 432,854 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.87, for a total transaction of $2,107,998.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 432,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,107,998.98. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chia Yuan Wang sold 76,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.49, for a total transaction of $344,383.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 92,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $413,955.55. This represents a 45.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 671,765 shares of company stock worth $3,200,865. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GGB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Gerdau from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gerdau in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded shares of Gerdau from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $4.60 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $5.25 price target (up from $4.60) on shares of Gerdau in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Gerdau from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.28.

Gerdau Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE GGB opened at $4.67 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $9.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.22 and a beta of 1.50. Gerdau S.A. has a 12 month low of $2.85 and a 12 month high of $4.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $4.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.20.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.05). Gerdau had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 6.76%. The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.36 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.0361 per share. This represents a $0.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.00%.

Gerdau Profile

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.