Karla R. Lewis Sells 31,136 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Stock

Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. This trade represents a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Reliance Stock Up 0.8 %

RS traded up $2.36 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $297.36. 418,884 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 430,589. 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 company's fifty day moving average price is $283.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $289.62. The company has a market cap of $16.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.26 and a beta of 0.91. Reliance, Inc. has a one year low of $256.98 and a one year high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) last announced its 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). Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. The business had revenue of $3.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.04 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current 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 paid a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Reliance's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance's payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Reliance

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RS. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Reliance in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Reliance by 224.6% in the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 185 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted 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 worth $58,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in Reliance in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Reliance in the third quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised Reliance from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. 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. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Reliance currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $329.17.

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.