Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) Shares Bought by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) by 27.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,752,405 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 599,700 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Gerdau were worth $9,083,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 46.6% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 289,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $956,000 after buying an additional 92,093 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Insight 2811 Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the second quarter valued at approximately $132,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Gerdau by 48.1% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 13,391,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,181,000 after buying an additional 4,351,666 shares in the last quarter. 1.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gerdau Stock Down 4.7 %

Shares of GGB opened at $3.26 on Monday. 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 S.A. has a one year low of $2.92 and a one year high of $4.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 1.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $3.26 and a 200 day moving average price 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 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 firm had revenue of $3.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.53 earnings per share 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 $0.055 dividend. This is a boost from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.11%.

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.