Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) Cut to “Sector Perform” at National Bank Financial

National Bank Financial cut shares of Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has C$56.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of C$54.00.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Russel Metals from C$52.00 to C$54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. TD Securities lifted their price objective 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 cut shares of Russel Metals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from C$49.00 to C$50.50 in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Russel Metals from C$47.00 to C$51.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Russel Metals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$54.42.

Russel Metals Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of TSE RUS opened at C$47.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.28, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 3.37. The business’s 50 day moving average price is C$46.10 and its 200-day moving average price is C$42.96. Russel Metals has a fifty-two week low of C$34.62 and a fifty-two week high of C$53.37. The company has a market cap of C$2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.06.

Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) last posted 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 during 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 27th. Russel Metals’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.81%.

Russel Metals News Summary

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

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.