Marshall Wace LLP Acquires 5,889,913 Shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)

Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) by 1,988.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,186,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,889,913 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Gerdau were worth $20,414,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 92,086,997 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $407,025,000 after buying an additional 378,125 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Gerdau by 15.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,100,969 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake 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 worth $44,181,000 after purchasing an additional 4,351,666 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Gerdau by 27.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,752,405 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,083,000 after purchasing an additional 599,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Gerdau during the second quarter worth approximately $6,085,000. Institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Gerdau Stock Performance

Shares of GGB stock opened at $3.48 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.74. Gerdau S.A. has a 1 year low of $2.92 and a 1 year 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.39.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a $0.055 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. This is a boost from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.33%. Gerdau’s payout ratio is presently 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.