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

Russel Metals (TSE:RUS) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Natl Bk Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on RUS. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Russel Metals from C$49.00 to C$50.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Russel Metals from C$51.00 to C$55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank upped their price target on Russel Metals from C$52.00 to C$54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. TD Securities raised their target price on Russel Metals from C$50.00 to C$57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, National Bank Financial cut shares of Russel Metals from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from C$54.00 to C$56.00 in a research report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Russel Metals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$54.42.

Russel Metals Stock Performance

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 stock has a market capitalization of C$2.62 billion, a PE ratio of 16.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.06. 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 fifty day moving average of C$46.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$42.97.

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

Key Stories Impacting Russel Metals

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.