Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.02

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of 0.0175 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th.

Gerdau has decreased its dividend by an average of 20.6% per year over the last three years. Gerdau has a dividend payout ratio of 46.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Gerdau to earn $0.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.6%.

Gerdau Stock Performance

GGB stock traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $2.83. 11,123,261 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,013,220. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.57 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.19. Gerdau has a 12 month low of $2.67 and a 12 month high of $4.04.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.06. Gerdau had a return on equity of 7.74% and a net margin of 7.03%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.66 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Gerdau will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.