Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) Stock Price Breaks Below 200-Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)’s share price crossed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday. The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $4.47 and traded as low as $4.33. Gerdau shares last traded at $4.3850, with a volume of 27,310,692 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GGB shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Gerdau from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gerdau from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. HSBC cut shares of Gerdau from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Gerdau from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Gerdau from $6.10 to $6.40 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.65.

Gerdau Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.87. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $4.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.47. The stock has a market cap of $8.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.66 and a beta of 1.55.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $3.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.64 billion. On average, analysts expect that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 12th will be paid a $0.0637 dividend. This is a positive change from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.0448. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 12th. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.8%. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Claudio Johannpeter sold 85,607 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.94, for a total value of $422,898.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Rafael Lopes sold 51,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.09, for a total value of $263,662.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 83,399 shares in the company, valued at $424,500.91. This represents a 38.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gerdau

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGB. Greenspring Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Gerdau in the second quarter valued at about $47,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Gerdau during the first quarter worth about $45,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the first quarter valued at about $46,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 57.6% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,243 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 4,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the first quarter valued at about $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

About Gerdau

Gerdau SA is a Brazil-based steel producer with operations across the Americas. The company manufactures and sells steel products for the construction, industrial, automotive, agricultural and infrastructure markets.

Its product portfolio includes long steel products such as rebar, wire rod, merchant bars and structural shapes, as well as special steel used in automotive and industrial applications. Gerdau also produces flat steel and semi-finished products, including billets and slabs, and operates steel mills, scrap-processing facilities and related distribution networks.

Founded in 1901, Gerdau has grown from a regional Brazilian steelmaker into an international producer serving customers in Brazil, North America and other parts of Latin America.