Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB – Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,420,000 shares, an increase of 366.7% from the May 31st total of 1,590,000 shares. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 9,280,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.8 days.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GGB shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Gerdau from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $4.50 to $5.00 in a research report on Friday, May 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Gerdau from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $4.17 to $5.00 in a report on Monday, April 15th.
View Our Latest Research Report on GGB
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Gerdau Price Performance
Shares of GGB remained flat at $3.30 during midday trading on Friday. 7,747,147 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,491,622. The company’s 50-day moving average is $3.40 and its 200 day moving average is $3.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.44 and a beta of 1.77. Gerdau has a 1-year low of $3.06 and a 1-year high of $5.13.
Gerdau (NYSE:GGB – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The basic materials company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 11.04%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Gerdau will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Gerdau Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.055 per share. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.67%. This is a boost from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.16%.
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.
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