MetLife Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,504 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,031 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Reliance worth $8,214,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Reliance in the 4th quarter worth about $7,352,000. Pure Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Reliance by 232.9% during the fourth quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,281 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,499,000 after buying an additional 6,493 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance in the third quarter worth approximately $4,600,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Reliance by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,951 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,332,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Occidental Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Reliance by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 16,494 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $4,441,000 after acquiring an additional 898 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company's stock.

Reliance Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:RS traded down $0.62 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $284.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 301,908 shares, compared to its average volume of 400,525. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $283.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $289.54. Reliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $250.07 and a 52 week high of $326.87. The company has a market capitalization of $15.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.43 and a beta of 0.83. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.66 by $0.11. Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. The company had revenue of $3.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.44 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Reliance's payout ratio is currently 31.09%.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total transaction of $9,356,990.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. The trade was a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.35% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on RS. KeyCorp lifted 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 shares of Reliance from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $319.00.

Reliance 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.