Profund Advisors LLC Buys 9,258 Shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)

Profund Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) by 18.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 60,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 9,258 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in Gerdau were worth $200,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Insight 2811 Inc. purchased a new stake in Gerdau during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Wedbush Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Gerdau in the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the first quarter worth $44,000. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC purchased a new stake in Gerdau during the first quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, KCM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Gerdau in the first quarter valued at about $54,000. Institutional investors own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Gerdau Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GGB opened at $3.48 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.74. Gerdau S.A. has a 52-week low of $2.92 and a 52-week high of $4.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 2.83.

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

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a $0.055 dividend. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.32%. This is a positive change from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is 13.11%.

Gerdau 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.