Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Boosts Stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its stake in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) by 46.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,543 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,724 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Reliance were worth $2,300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Reliance by 157.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of Reliance by 1,216.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 329 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Providence First Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Reliance during the 4th quarter worth approximately $90,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Reliance by 41.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management increased its stake in Reliance by 35,700.0% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 358 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the firm's 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 owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at $27,115,919.60. This trade represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.35% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on RS shares. KeyCorp raised their target price on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $319.00.

Reliance Stock Performance

Reliance stock traded up $1.77 during trading on Friday, hitting $276.97. The stock had a trading volume of 272,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 402,392. The stock's 50 day moving average is $284.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $289.64. Reliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $250.07 and a 1 year high of $326.87. The stock has a market cap of $14.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.94 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Reliance (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 11.87%. As a group, analysts predict that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Reliance's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.09%.

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.