Axa S.A. Purchases 59,451 Shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB)

Axa S.A. increased its position in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) by 6.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,024,392 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 59,451 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Gerdau were worth $3,380,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau in the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. Insight 2811 Inc. acquired a new position in Gerdau in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Wedbush Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Gerdau in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC acquired a new position in Gerdau in the 1st quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, KCM Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Gerdau in the 1st quarter valued at about $54,000. 1.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Gerdau Price Performance

Shares of GGB opened at $3.48 on Monday. Gerdau S.A. has a 52 week low of $2.92 and a 52 week high of $4.21. The firm has a market cap of $7.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.74. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.39. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

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