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

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) saw a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,400,000 shares, an increase of 12.5% from the August 31st total of 5,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,400,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.0 days. Approximately 0.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Gerdau by 36.1% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 750,612 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,477,000 after purchasing an additional 199,033 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 1,988.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 6,186,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,414,000 after buying an additional 5,889,913 shares during the period. Oaktree Fund Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,148,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Gerdau by 27.9% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,752,405 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,083,000 after acquiring an additional 599,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 1,706.6% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 288,519 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $952,000 after acquiring an additional 272,549 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Gerdau Stock Performance

GGB remained flat at $3.48 during midday trading on Friday. 25,072,572 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,807,111. Gerdau has a 52-week low of $2.92 and a 52-week high of $4.21. The company has a market capitalization of $7.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $3.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.39.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. Gerdau had a return on equity of 8.43% and a net margin of 7.88%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gerdau will post 0.53 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid 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 6.32%. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is 13.11%.

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.