Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) Short Interest Down 8.1% in August

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,690,000 shares, a decline of 8.1% from the August 15th total of 6,190,000 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 6,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.9 days.

Gerdau Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:GGB opened at $3.39 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Gerdau has a 1-year low of $2.92 and a 1-year high of $4.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of $3.26 and a 200 day moving average of $3.40. The firm has a market cap of $7.14 billion, a PE ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 1.74.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last posted its quarterly 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. Gerdau had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 8.43%. The business had revenue of $3.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Gerdau will post 0.53 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.055 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $0.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.50%. This is a positive change from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.11%.

Institutional Trading of Gerdau

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Gerdau by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 70,404 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 3,640 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Gerdau by 16.0% during the first quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 33,987 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $150,000 after buying an additional 4,678 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 32,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 5,460 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Gerdau by 27.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30,308 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 6,558 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Gerdau by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 17,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 6,909 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Bank of America raised Gerdau from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock 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.