Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Buys 47,485 Shares of Gerdau S.A. $GGB

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) by 363.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 60,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,485 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Gerdau were worth $177,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GGB. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the 1st quarter worth about $30,134,000. Carrhae Capital LLP bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the 1st quarter worth about $18,655,000. Kawa Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in Gerdau in the 1st quarter valued at about $6,011,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Gerdau by 821.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,344,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,657,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089,675 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Gerdau by 467.5% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,425,593 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,889,000 after purchasing an additional 1,998,206 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Gerdau Stock Performance

Shares of Gerdau stock opened at $3.39 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $3.14 and a 200-day moving average of $2.93. Gerdau S.A. has a 1-year low of $2.27 and a 1-year high of $3.62. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $6.76 billion, a PE ratio of 11.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.42.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.01). Gerdau had a return on equity of 6.51% and a net margin of 4.81%.The firm had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.0216 per share. This is a boost from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $0.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Gerdau’s payout ratio is currently 24.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on GGB. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Gerdau from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gerdau in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $3.80.

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.