Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 1,075,963 Shares of Ryerson Holding Co. (NYSE:RYI)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ryerson Holding Co. (NYSE:RYI) by 85.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,329,803 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,075,963 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.07% of Ryerson worth $43,125,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Ryerson by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 179,422 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,321,000 after purchasing an additional 17,771 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Ryerson in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $583,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ryerson by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 930,439 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,222,000 after acquiring an additional 68,022 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in Ryerson during the fourth quarter worth about $329,000. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ryerson by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 855,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $15,831,000 after buying an additional 17,075 shares in the last quarter. 94.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Edward J. Lehner sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.79, for a total transaction of $247,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 593,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,706,122.12. This trade represents a 1.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO James J. Claussen sold 6,017 shares of Ryerson stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.30, for a total transaction of $152,230.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 58,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,486,956.90. This represents a 9.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.95% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Ryerson from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th.

Ryerson Price Performance

Ryerson stock opened at $21.13 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $23.24 and a 200-day moving average of $22.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $672.95 million, a P/E ratio of -81.26 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 2.22. Ryerson Holding Co. has a 52 week low of $17.18 and a 52 week high of $34.65.

Ryerson (NYSE:RYI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.48) by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. Ryerson had a negative net margin of 0.19% and a negative return on equity of 0.70%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ryerson Holding Co. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ryerson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.1875 per share. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Ryerson’s payout ratio is -288.46%.

Ryerson Profile

Ryerson Holding Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, processes and distributes industrial metals in the United States and internationally. It offers a line of products in carbon steel, stainless steel, alloy steels, and aluminum, as well as nickel and red metals in various shapes and forms, including coils, sheets, rounds, hexagons, square and flat bars, plates, structural, and tubing.