Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 281,972 Shares of Ryerson Holding Co. (NYSE:RYI)

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Ryerson Holding Co. (NYSE:RYI) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,708,337 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 281,972 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.05% of Ryerson worth $31,621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ryerson by 5.0% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ryerson by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 30,067 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $557,000 after acquiring an additional 2,590 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in Ryerson in the fourth quarter worth $54,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in Ryerson by 159.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,649 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $152,000 after acquiring an additional 4,704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Ryerson by 10.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 60,808 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,211,000 after purchasing an additional 5,773 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.81% of the company’s stock.

Ryerson Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE RYI opened at $22.03 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $701.52 million, a P/E ratio of -84.71 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Ryerson Holding Co. has a one year low of $17.18 and a one year high of $33.33. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.28.

Ryerson (NYSE:RYI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by $0.34. The company 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Ryerson Holding Co. will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ryerson Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $0.1875 dividend. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Ryerson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -288.46%.

Insider Activity at Ryerson

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BMO Capital Markets upped 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.

About Ryerson

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.