Russel Metals Inc. (TSE:RUS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Russel Metals Inc. (TSE:RUS) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$61.17.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD lifted their target price on Russel Metals from C$63.00 to C$68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. National Bank Financial upped their target price on Russel Metals from C$52.00 to C$57.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Scotia increased their price target on Russel Metals from C$54.00 to C$62.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Russel Metals from C$51.00 to C$56.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Russel Metals from C$49.00 to C$58.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Gregory Reid sold 28,935 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 C$17,946,337.14. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director James Francis Dinning sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was 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 directly owned 19,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$1,195,425. This trade represents a 11.49% decrease in their position. Insiders have sold 63,735 shares of company stock worth $3,849,245 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Russel Metals Trading Down 0.7%

Russel Metals stock opened at C$70.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.50, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.86. The firm has a market cap of C$3.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.21. Russel Metals has a 1 year low of C$39.09 and a 1 year high of C$70.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is C$64.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$55.45.

Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$1.63 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$1.66 billion during the quarter. Russel Metals had a return on equity of 12.22% and a net margin of 4.04%.

Russel Metals Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. Russel Metals’s payout ratio is 48.31%.

About Russel Metals

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.