Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) Sets New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Russel Metals Inc. (TSE:RUS) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on the stock from C$47.00 to C$51.00. The company traded as high as C$48.05 and last traded at C$47.73, with a volume of 254610 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$46.14.

RUS has been the topic of several other research reports. National Bankshares lifted their price target on shares of Russel Metals from C$55.00 to C$56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on Russel Metals from C$56.00 to C$54.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Scotiabank upgraded Russel Metals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Russel Metals from C$49.00 to C$48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have assigned a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of C$51.80.

Russel Metals Stock Up 3.4%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 3.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.28. The firm has a market capitalization of C$2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average of C$42.36 and a 200 day moving average of C$42.33.

Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported C$0.63 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$1.17 billion for the quarter. Russel Metals had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 4.27%.

Russel Metals Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 27th. Russel Metals’s payout ratio is currently 58.22%.

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.