Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Buys Shares of 10,299 Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 10,299 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $2,773,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Reliance in the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Reliance by 157.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Reliance in the third quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Reliance by 1,216.0% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 329 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Providence First Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Reliance during the fourth quarter worth $90,000. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. This represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on RS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Reliance in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $341.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Reliance from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $329.17.

Reliance Price Performance

RS traded up $10.12 on Monday, hitting $287.68. 449,916 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 369,614. Reliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $256.98 and a fifty-two week high of $342.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 3.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.63 and a beta of 0.87. The business's fifty day moving average is $288.07 and its 200 day moving average is $289.97.

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

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Reliance's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance's payout ratio is 31.09%.

Reliance Company Profile

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.