Short Interest in Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) Declines By 37.3%

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,010,000 shares, a decrease of 37.3% from the September 15th total of 6,400,000 shares. Approximately 0.3% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 7,020,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.6 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gerdau

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GGB. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its position in Gerdau by 91.0% in the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 119,920 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $581,000 after acquiring an additional 57,122 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gerdau during the first quarter worth $59,000. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in Gerdau in the first quarter valued at $44,000. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC purchased a new position in Gerdau in the first quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Gerdau by 61.6% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 312,106 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,380,000 after buying an additional 118,912 shares in the last quarter. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gerdau Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of Gerdau stock traded down $0.14 on Friday, reaching $3.30. The stock had a trading volume of 15,799,467 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,930,854. Gerdau has a 1 year low of $2.92 and a 1 year high of $4.21. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $3.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 1.74.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Gerdau will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $0.055 per share. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. This is a boost from Gerdau's previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Gerdau's payout ratio is 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.