Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Russel Metals Inc. (TSE:RUS)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$63.99 and last traded at C$63.80, with a volume of 48894 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$63.08.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on RUS. Scotia raised their target price on Russel Metals from C$54.00 to C$62.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. TD raised their target price on 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 raised their target price on Russel Metals from C$55.00 to C$63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. National Bank Financial raised their target price on Russel Metals from C$51.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Russel Metals from C$52.00 to C$54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$60.06.

Russel Metals Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of C$54.35 and a 200 day moving average of C$48.66. 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 stock has a market capitalization of C$3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.16.

Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported C$1.30 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$1.42 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 business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 28th. Russel Metals’s payout ratio is presently 48.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Gregory Reid sold 28,935 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$58.62, for a total transaction of C$1,696,169.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 306,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$17,946,337.14. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their position. 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 sale, the director directly owned 19,250 shares in the company, valued at C$1,195,425. The trade was a 11.49% decrease in their position. Insiders have sold a total of 63,935 shares of company stock valued at $3,798,167 over the last 90 days. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.