Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) by 46.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 289,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 92,093 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Gerdau were worth $956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Gerdau during the first quarter valued at $44,000. Insight 2811 Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the second quarter valued at $36,000. IPG Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the fourth quarter valued at $55,000. Wedbush Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the second quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Prosperity Consulting Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the first quarter valued at $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Gerdau Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of GGB opened at $3.37 on Monday. Gerdau S.A. has a twelve month low of $2.92 and a twelve month high of $4.41. The company has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.40.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 8.43%. As a group, analysts expect that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.53 EPS for the current year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were issued a $0.055 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. This is a boost from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.53%. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Bank of America raised shares of Gerdau from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $4.50 to $5.00 in a research note on Friday, May 24th.

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.