BTS Asset Management Inc. Buys New Holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

BTS Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,625 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $707,000. Reliance accounts for 0.7% of BTS Asset Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in RS. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in Reliance by 78.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 289,758 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $82,816,000 after acquiring an additional 127,422 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Reliance by 27,269.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 112,213 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $32,453,000 after acquiring an additional 111,803 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Reliance by 19.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 472,730 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $136,718,000 after acquiring an additional 77,937 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Reliance by 68.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 139,660 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $40,391,000 after acquiring an additional 56,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Reliance in the third quarter valued at $12,389,000. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 3,892 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.90, for a total value of $1,260,618.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,117 shares in the company, valued at $27,569,396.30. This trade represents a 4.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP William A. Smith II sold 6,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.71, for a total transaction of $2,091,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 16,849 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,420,491.79. This represents a 27.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,724 shares of company stock worth $6,856,500. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RS has been the topic of several research reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Reliance from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Reliance from $340.00 to $330.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Reliance in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $341.00 price target for the company. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Reliance from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $328.83.

Reliance Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:RS traded up $4.30 during trading on Friday, hitting $288.58. The stock had a trading volume of 499,635 shares, compared to its average volume of 521,900. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Reliance, Inc. has a 12-month low of $256.98 and a 12-month high of $342.20. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $292.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $289.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.85 and a beta of 0.91.

Reliance (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.66 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.38 billion. Reliance had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.00 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a $1.10 dividend. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Reliance's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.16%.

About Reliance

Reliance, Inc operates as a diversified metal solutions provider and the metals service center company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company distributes a line of approximately 100,000 metal products, including alloy, aluminum, brass, copper, carbon steel, stainless steel, titanium, and specialty steel products; and provides metals processing services to general manufacturing, non-residential construction, transportation, aerospace, energy, electronics and semiconductor fabrication, and heavy industries.