Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) Reaches New 52-Week Low at $3.08

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $3.08 and last traded at $3.09, with a volume of 285852 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $3.13.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Gerdau Stock Performance

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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.52 billion, a PE ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 1.77.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The basic materials company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a $0.055 dividend. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.12%. This is an increase 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%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gerdau

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GGB. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 233,911.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,559,513 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $102,839,000 after buying an additional 21,550,300 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,708,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $444,788,000 after buying an additional 6,268,313 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 92.5% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,520,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,563,000 after buying an additional 2,172,396 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 12.0% in the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 10,352,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,379,000 after buying an additional 1,109,470 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Gerdau by 95.2% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,972,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,565,000 after purchasing an additional 961,612 shares in the last quarter. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gerdau Company Profile

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.