Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Russel Metals Inc. (TSE:RUS) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as C$70.97 and last traded at C$70.97, with a volume of 3684 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$70.70.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on Russel Metals from C$65.00 to C$70.00 in a research report on Friday, June 5th. TD increased their price target on shares of Russel Metals from C$63.00 to C$68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Russel Metals from C$63.00 to C$68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Russel Metals from C$51.00 to C$56.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Russel Metals from C$49.00 to C$58.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$61.17.

Russel Metals Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of C$62.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$54.04. The company has a market cap of C$3.79 billion, a PE ratio of 19.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.50.

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

Russel Metals Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Russel Metals’s payout ratio is 48.31%.

Insider Transactions at Russel Metals

In other Russel Metals news, insider John Gregory Reid sold 28,935 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$58.62, for a total value of C$1,696,169.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 306,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$17,946,337.14. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director James Francis Dinning sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director owned 19,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$1,195,425. This represents a 11.49% decrease in their position. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 73,935 shares of company stock worth $4,430,667. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.