Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Russel Metals Inc. (TSE:RUS)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as C$83.12 and last traded at C$83.12, with a volume of 44748 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$80.40.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on RUS. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Russel Metals from C$76.00 to C$89.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Raymond James Financial lowered Russel Metals from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from C$70.00 to C$82.00 in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Russel Metals from C$64.00 to C$85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. TD set a C$94.00 target price on Russel Metals and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Russel Metals from C$68.00 to C$92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Russel Metals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$76.89.

Russel Metals Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.88, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.61. The company has a 50 day moving average price of C$73.79 and a 200 day moving average price of C$61.80. The company has a market capitalization of C$4.52 billion, a PE ratio of 21.00, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.28.

Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$1.63 EPS for the quarter. Russel Metals had a net margin of 4.04% and a return on equity of 13.09%. The business had revenue of C$1.66 billion for the quarter.

Russel Metals Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 28th. Russel Metals’s payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Insider Transactions at Russel Metals

In other news, insider Martin Leb Juravsky sold 5,682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$80.40, for a total value of C$456,832.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 6,674 shares in the company, valued at C$536,589.60. This represents a 45.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director James Francis Dinning sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$80.00, for a total value of C$240,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$1,300,000. The trade was a 15.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold 33,682 shares of company stock valued at $2,735,333 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

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.