William Blair Investment Management LLC Acquires 17,075 Shares of Ryerson Holding Co. (NYSE:RYI)

William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ryerson Holding Co. (NYSE:RYI) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 855,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,075 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 2.69% of Ryerson worth $15,831,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Ryerson by 167.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,330 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 34,604 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Ryerson by 3.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,411,397 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,101,000 after buying an additional 43,780 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ryerson by 31.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 847,514 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,874,000 after buying an additional 203,314 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Ryerson by 31.0% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 36,676 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $730,000 after acquiring an additional 8,688 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ryerson by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,215,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,502,000 after acquiring an additional 65,181 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ryerson

In other news, CEO Edward J. Lehner sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.79, for a total value 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. This represents 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.30, for a total transaction of $152,230.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 58,773 shares in the company, valued at $1,486,956.90. The trade was a 9.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.95% of the company’s stock.

Ryerson Stock Up 4.9 %

NYSE:RYI opened at $24.71 on Thursday. Ryerson Holding Co. has a 1-year low of $17.18 and a 1-year high of $34.65. The company has a market capitalization of $786.97 million, a PE ratio of -95.03 and a beta of 1.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $22.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.79. 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 (NYSE:RYI) last announced 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. Ryerson had a negative net margin of 0.19% and a negative return on equity of 0.70%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Ryerson Holding Co. will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ryerson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.1875 dividend. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Ryerson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.