FourThought Financial Partners LLC Invests $373,000 in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,385 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $373,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in Reliance by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 941 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Reliance by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,715 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,077,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Reliance by 0.3% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 19,578 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $5,662,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Reliance by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,694 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $725,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Reliance by 17.6% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 462 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total value of $9,356,990.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at $27,115,919.60. This represents a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

Reliance Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RS traded up $2.36 on Friday, reaching $297.36. 418,884 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 430,589. Reliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $256.98 and a fifty-two week high of $342.20. The company's 50 day moving average is $283.62 and its 200-day moving average is $289.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.09 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

Reliance (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.74 by ($0.52). The company had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 11.87%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. This is a positive change from Reliance's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp upped their target price on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded Reliance from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Reliance in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $341.00 target price for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $329.17.

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.