Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 4,500 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) by 12.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,849 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.08% of Reliance worth $11,205,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Reliance by 6,311.2% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 816,465 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $219,841,000 after purchasing an additional 803,730 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Reliance by 1,127.9% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 426,986 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $114,971,000 after acquiring an additional 392,213 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Reliance by 53.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,685 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $195,402,000 after acquiring an additional 252,955 shares in the last quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Reliance during the 4th quarter worth $46,979,000. Finally, Woodward Diversified Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Reliance during the 4th quarter valued at $21,015,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on RS shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Reliance from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $329.17.

Reliance Stock Performance

NYSE:RS traded down $18.24 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $275.66. 409,213 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 460,008. The company has a current ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.85 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $289.13 and a 200 day moving average of $290.84. Reliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $256.98 and a twelve month high of $342.20.

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

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. This is a positive change from Reliance's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Reliance's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Reliance

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the business'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 in the company, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. The trade was a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

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.