Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 10,770,000 shares, a growth of 118.9% from the November 15th total of 4,920,000 shares. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 10,460,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Gerdau

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 36.1% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 750,612 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,477,000 after purchasing an additional 199,033 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Gerdau by 1,988.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 6,186,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,414,000 after buying an additional 5,889,913 shares during the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Gerdau by 42.3% in the 3rd quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 1,295,926 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,536,000 after buying an additional 385,535 shares during the period. Oaktree Fund Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gerdau during the second quarter worth $2,148,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of Gerdau by 298.1% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,097,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,341,000 after acquiring an additional 4,565,900 shares during the period. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gerdau Price Performance

Shares of GGB traded down $0.10 on Thursday, hitting $3.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,619,034 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,483,203. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $3.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.30. Gerdau has a fifty-two week low of $2.92 and a fifty-two week high of $4.10. The company has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of 7.40 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 1.53.

Gerdau Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.0528 per share. This represents a $0.21 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.20%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Gerdau’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. Gerdau’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.48%.

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.