Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) Cut to Hold at Natl Bk Canada

Natl Bk Canada lowered shares of Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Russel Metals from C$51.00 to C$55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Russel Metals from C$52.00 to C$54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Russel Metals from C$50.00 to C$57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Russel Metals from C$49.00 to C$50.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, National Bank Financial lowered shares of Russel Metals from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from C$54.00 to C$56.00 in a research note on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$54.42.

Russel Metals Stock Performance

Shares of TSE RUS opened at C$47.12 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.37, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average of C$46.10 and a 200 day moving average of C$42.96. Russel Metals has a 12-month low of C$34.62 and a 12-month high of C$53.37. The firm has a market capitalization of C$2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Russel Metals Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 27th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Russel Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.81%.

Russel Metals News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Russel Metals this week:

• Positive Sentiment: TD Securities raised its price target to C$57.00 and maintained a “buy” rating (≈21.6% upside vs. the cited reference price). This is one of the largest target increases and is a clear bullish catalyst. TD Securities raises target
• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada raised its target to C$55.00 and kept an “outperform” rating (≈17.3% upside), reinforcing buy-side interest. RBC raises target
• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank increased its target to C$54.00 and kept an “outperform” rating (≈15.2% upside), adding another institutional vote of confidence. Scotiabank raises target TickerReport item
• Neutral Sentiment: Stifel Nicolaus nudged its target to C$50.50 and kept a “hold” rating (≈7.7% upside). The smaller increase and neutral stance are less market-moving than the buy/outperform calls. Stifel updates target
• Negative Sentiment: National Bank Financial downgraded Russel Metals from “outperform” to “sector perform” despite raising its target to C$56.00. The downgrade introduces a cautionary note on forward relative performance even though the new target is higher. National Bank downgrades

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.