Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $20.64 Million in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 76,655 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $20,640,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.14% of Reliance as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RS. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Reliance by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 127,806 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $36,963,000 after buying an additional 1,696 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Reliance by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 872 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Reliance by 37.5% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,508 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,015,000 after buying an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Reliance by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,634 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $762,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Reliance during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $634,000. 79.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Reliance

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 $27,115,919.60. This trade represents a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Reliance Price Performance

NYSE:RS traded down $1.29 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $281.77. 522,591 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 357,164. The firm's 50-day moving average is $287.60 and its 200-day moving average is $289.86. The stock has a market cap of $14.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.25 and a beta of 0.87. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $256.98 and a 1-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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.74 by ($0.52). The company had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 11.87%. Equities research analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Reliance's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance's dividend payout ratio is 31.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on RS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Reliance in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $341.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research raised Reliance from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average 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.