Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Russel Metals Inc. (TSE:RUS) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as C$64.31 and last traded at C$64.17, with a volume of 19890 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$63.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Russel Metals from C$51.00 to C$56.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Russel Metals from C$65.00 to C$70.00 in a report on Friday, June 5th. National Bank Financial upped their price objective on shares of Russel Metals from C$51.00 to C$52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Scotia increased their target price on shares of Russel Metals from C$54.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Russel Metals from C$63.00 to C$68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Russel Metals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$60.61.

Russel Metals Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of C$60.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$52.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.50, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The company has a market cap of C$3.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.21.

Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported C$1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$1.42 billion for the quarter. Russel Metals had a return on equity of 12.22% and a net margin of 4.04%.

Russel Metals Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Russel Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Russel Metals news, Director James Francis Dinning sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$62.10, for a total value of C$155,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$1,195,425. The trade was a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director Brian Robie Hedges sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$63.25, for a total transaction of C$632,500.00. Insiders sold 73,935 shares of company stock worth $4,430,667 in the last three months. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Russel Metals Company Profile

Russel Metals is one of the largest metals distribution companies in North America with a growing focus on value-added processing. It carries on business in three segments: metals service centers, energy field stores and steel distributors. Its network of metals service centers carries an extensive line of metal products in a wide range of sizes, shapes and specifications, including carbon hot rolled and cold finished steel, pipe and tubular products, stainless steel, aluminum and other non-ferrous specialty metals.