Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) Short Interest Up 366.7% in June

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in 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. Based on an average daily volume of 9,280,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.8 days. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America upgraded Gerdau from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $4.50 to $5.00 in a research report on Friday, May 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Gerdau from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $4.17 to $5.00 in a research report on Monday, April 15th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gerdau

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GGB. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in Gerdau by 38.4% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,747,479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,335,000 after acquiring an additional 484,617 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Gerdau in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $300,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Gerdau by 92.5% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,520,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,563,000 after purchasing an additional 2,172,396 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Gerdau by 28.3% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 157,611 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $752,000 after purchasing an additional 34,754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Gerdau in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $274,000. 1.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gerdau Stock Performance

GGB remained flat at $3.30 during midday trading on Friday. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,747,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,491,622. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.44 and a beta of 1.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.59. Gerdau has a 52 week low of $3.06 and a 52 week high of $5.13.

Gerdau (NYSE:GGB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The basic materials company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Gerdau had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 9.57%. On average, equities analysts expect that Gerdau will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a $0.055 dividend. This is a positive change from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. Gerdau’s payout ratio is currently 36.16%.

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.