Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) Stock Position Lifted by Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its position in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) by 7.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,069,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 74,709 shares during the quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. owned approximately 0.05% of Gerdau worth $3,481,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GGB. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new stake in Gerdau during the first quarter valued at $44,000. Insight 2811 Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. IPG Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Gerdau in the fourth quarter worth about $55,000. Wedbush Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Gerdau in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Prosperity Consulting Group LLC acquired a new position in Gerdau in the first quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 1.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gerdau Stock Down 4.7 %

Shares of Gerdau stock opened at $3.26 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 1.74. Gerdau S.A. has a twelve month low of $2.92 and a twelve month high of $4.21. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $3.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.39.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.02. Gerdau had a return on equity of 8.43% and a net margin of 7.88%. The firm had revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a $0.055 dividend. This is a boost from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.75%. 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.