Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Raises Stake in Ryerson Holding Co. (NYSE:RYI)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ryerson Holding Co. (NYSE:RYI - Free Report) by 12.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 542,433 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 62,092 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned approximately 1.70% of Ryerson worth $10,040,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Ryerson by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,455 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $305,000 after acquiring an additional 1,734 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Ryerson by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 57,280 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ryerson by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 44,865 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $830,000 after purchasing an additional 2,140 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Ryerson by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 30,067 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 2,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in Ryerson by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 16,821 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 2,749 shares in the last quarter. 94.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RYI has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ryerson from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com lowered Ryerson from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th.

Ryerson Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:RYI traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $21.81. 141,817 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 296,969. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.37 and a 200 day moving average of $22.42. Ryerson Holding Co. has a one year low of $17.18 and a one year high of $27.41. The company has a market cap of $702.19 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -83.88 and a beta of 1.64. 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 (NYSE:RYI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.23) by $0.05. Ryerson had a negative net margin of 0.19% and a negative return on equity of 0.70%. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.16 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ryerson Holding Co. will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ryerson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.1875 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. Ryerson's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -340.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ryerson news, CFO James J. Claussen sold 6,017 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 58,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,486,956.90. This represents a 9.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward J. Lehner sold 10,000 shares of Ryerson stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.79, for a total value of $247,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 593,228 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,706,122.12. This represents a 1.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.95% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.