Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Russel Metals Inc. (TSE:RUS)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as C$79.19 and last traded at C$78.55, with a volume of 18133 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$70.77.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on RUS. Scotia boosted their price target on Russel Metals from C$54.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. 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 report on Tuesday, June 30th. National Bank Financial boosted their target price on Russel Metals from C$52.00 to C$57.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Russel Metals from C$51.00 to C$56.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, TD raised 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 report on Monday, May 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$61.17.

Russel Metals Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of C$4.28 billion, a PE ratio of 21.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.50. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is C$64.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$55.45.

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

Russel Metals Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Russel Metals’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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 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 sale, the insider directly owned 306,147 shares in the company, valued at 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$62.10, for a total transaction of C$155,250.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$1,195,425. The trade was a 11.49% decrease in their position. Insiders sold a total of 63,735 shares of company stock worth $3,849,245 in the last ninety days. 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.