American Century Companies Inc. Has $9.67 Million Stock Position in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,355,896 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 188,877 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of Gerdau worth $9,665,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group acquired a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Gerdau during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the third quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Zhang Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gerdau during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, UBS Group initiated coverage on Gerdau in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company.

Gerdau Price Performance

GGB opened at $2.88 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $2.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $3.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.99 billion, a PE ratio of 6.70 and a beta of 1.69. Gerdau S.A. has a 52 week low of $2.67 and a 52 week high of $4.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06. Gerdau had a return on equity of 7.74% and a net margin of 7.03%. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.66 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Gerdau Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.0175 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.95%.

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.