Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Russel Metals Inc. (TSE:RUS)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as C$67.18 and last traded at C$66.54, with a volume of 158044 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$65.41.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD upped 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target 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. National Bank Financial boosted their price target on Russel Metals from C$52.00 to C$57.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday. Scotia upped their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$61.17.

Russel Metals Trading Up 2.1%

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 firm has a market cap of C$3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50-day moving average price is C$61.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$52.97.

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 firm had revenue of C$1.42 billion for the quarter. Russel Metals had a net margin of 4.04% and a return on equity of 12.22%.

Russel Metals Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Gregory Reid sold 28,935 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were 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 owned 306,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$17,946,337.14. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. Also, insider Martin Leb Juravsky sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$63.28, for a total transaction of C$316,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$781,887.68. This represents a 28.81% decrease in their position. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 73,935 shares of company stock valued at $4,430,667. 0.85% of the stock is 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.