Gerdau SA (NYSE:GGB) short interest fell 8.1% in August

Gerdau SA (NYSE:GGB – Get Free Report ) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 5,690,000 shares, a decrease of 8.1% from the August 15th total of 6,190,000 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume of 6,100,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.9 days.

Analysts set new price targets

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

Read the latest stock analysis on GGB

Gerdau stock 0.6%

GGB stock traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $3.39. The company had a trading volume of 13,950,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,703,447. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.36, and a current ratio of 2.83. The company has a market cap of $7.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 1.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $3.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.40. Gerdau has a 52 week low of $2.92 and a 52 week high of $4.31.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB – Get Free Report ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.09 EPS 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 company had revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Gerdau will post 0.53 EPS for the current year.

Gerdau increases the dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $0.055 per share. This is a positive change from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a dividend of $0.22 on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.49%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.11%.

Institutional inputs and outputs

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in shares of Gerdau by 1,706.6% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 288,519 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $952,000 after acquiring an additional 272,549 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 20.0% in the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 41,560 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 6,926 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Gerdau by 97.2% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,905 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 8,826 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 27.6% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30,308 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 6,558 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Gerdau by 15.7% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,324,081 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,369,000 after purchasing an additional 179,988 shares in the last quarter. 1.49% of the shares are held by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Gerdau

(Get a free report)

Gerdau SA, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a steel producing company. The company operates through the Brazil Business, North America Business, South America Business and Special Steel Business segments. It also supplies semi-finished products including billets, flowers and slabs; regular long rolled products such as rebars, wire bars, commercial bars, light shapes and profiles for the construction and manufacturing industries; Drawn products including barbed and non-barbed fence wire, galvanized wire, fencing, concrete reinforcing wire mesh, nails and clips for the manufacturing, construction and agricultural industries; and specialty steel products used in auto parts, light and heavy vehicles, and agricultural machinery, as well as in oil and gas, wind power, machinery and equipment, mining and rail, and other markets.

Further reading

Get news and reviews for Gerdau Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for Gerdau and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.