Friedman Industries (NYSEAMERICAN:FRD) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Friedman Industries (NYSEAMERICAN:FRD) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

Friedman Industries Trading Down 4.3 %

Shares of NYSEAMERICAN:FRD opened at $13.91 on Tuesday. Friedman Industries has a 52 week low of $9.50 and a 52 week high of $19.52. The company has a market capitalization of $96.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.37.

Friedman Industries (NYSEAMERICAN:FRD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Friedman Industries had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 9.65%. The business had revenue of $114.55 million during the quarter.

Friedman Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th were paid a dividend of $0.04 per share. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. Friedman Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Friedman Industries news, Director Joe L. Williams purchased 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $14.34 per share, for a total transaction of $43,020.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 31,574 shares in the company, valued at $452,771.16. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Joel Spira bought 2,000 shares of Friedman Industries stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $14.27 per share, for a total transaction of $28,540.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 16,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $235,512.08. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joe L. Williams bought 3,000 shares of Friedman Industries stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $14.34 per share, with a total value of $43,020.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 31,574 shares in the company, valued at approximately $452,771.16. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 13,043 shares of company stock worth $188,859 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Friedman Industries

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gendell Jeffrey L increased its holdings in shares of Friedman Industries by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Gendell Jeffrey L now owns 435,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,164,000 after purchasing an additional 61,339 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Friedman Industries in the 2nd quarter valued at about $343,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Friedman Industries in the 1st quarter valued at about $425,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Friedman Industries in the 1st quarter valued at about $131,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Friedman Industries by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 29,667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $459,000 after purchasing an additional 4,377 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.26% of the company’s stock.

About Friedman Industries

Friedman Industries, Incorporated engages in steel processing, pipe manufacturing and processing, and the steel and pipe distribution businesses the United States. It operates in two segments, Coil and Tubular. The Coil segment is involved in the conversion of steel coils into flat sheet and plate steel cut to customer specifications and reselling steel coils.