Oaktree Fund Advisors LLC Takes Position in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)

Oaktree Fund Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 650,885 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,148,000. Gerdau accounts for about 2.0% of Oaktree Fund Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GGB. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,708,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $444,788,000 after purchasing an additional 6,268,313 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Gerdau by 48.1% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 13,391,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,181,000 after buying an additional 4,351,666 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Gerdau by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,005,117 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,825,000 after buying an additional 2,100,969 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Gerdau in the second quarter worth approximately $6,085,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Gerdau by 27.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,752,405 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,083,000 after acquiring an additional 599,700 shares during the period. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Bank of America upgraded Gerdau from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $4.50 to $5.00 in a report on Friday, May 24th.

Gerdau Stock Performance

Shares of GGB opened at $3.27 on Friday. Gerdau S.A. has a 1 year low of $2.92 and a 1 year high of $4.21. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $3.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.39. The firm has a market cap of $6.88 billion, a PE ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 1.74.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.19 billion for 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.53 EPS for the current year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a dividend of $0.055 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.74%. This is an increase from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.11%.

Gerdau 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.