Wall Street Zen Upgrades Metallus (NYSE:MTUS) to Hold

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Metallus (NYSE:MTUS - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday.

Separately, Sidoti upgraded Metallus to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th.

Metallus Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE MTUS traded up $0.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $16.19. The company had a trading volume of 288,870 shares, compared to its average volume of 388,853. The firm has a market capitalization of $681.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.02. Metallus has a fifty-two week low of $10.78 and a fifty-two week high of $23.26.

Metallus (NYSE:MTUS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.11 by ($0.04). Metallus had a negative net margin of 2.05% and a positive return on equity of 0.31%. The company had revenue of $280.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $264.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Metallus will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Metallus news, EVP Kristine C. Syrvalin sold 7,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.00, for a total value of $120,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 97,410 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,558,560. This trade represents a 7.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Kristopher R. Westbrooks sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.00, for a total value of $64,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 197,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,153,216. This represents a 1.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Metallus

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MTUS. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Metallus in the fourth quarter valued at about $236,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Metallus during the fourth quarter worth about $335,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in Metallus by 207.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 23,845 shares of the company's stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 16,097 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Metallus in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $104,000. Finally, Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in shares of Metallus by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,092,768 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,441,000 after buying an additional 128,437 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.58% of the company's stock.

About Metallus

Metallus Inc manufactures and sells alloy steel, and carbon and micro-alloy steel products in the United States and internationally. The company offers special bar quality (SBQ) bars, seamless mechanical tubes, precision steel components, and billets that are used in gears, hubs, axles, crankshafts and motor shafts, oil country drill pipes, bits and collars, bearing races and rolling elements, bushings, fuel injectors, wind energy shafts, anti-friction bearings, artillery and mortar bodies, and other applications.