Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its holdings in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 116,052 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 6,052 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.21% of Reliance worth $31,248,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RS. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance during the third quarter valued at $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Reliance by 157.8% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Reliance during the 3rd quarter valued at about $78,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Reliance by 41.8% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Abound Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 3,892 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.90, for a total transaction of $1,260,618.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,117 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,569,396.30. The trade was a 4.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on RS. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Reliance from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Reliance from $340.00 to $330.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Reliance from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Reliance in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $341.00 target price for the company. 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 an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $328.17.

Reliance Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RS traded down $1.60 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $301.06. 531,353 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 428,969. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $281.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $289.29. Reliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $256.98 and a 1 year high of $342.20. The company has a market cap of $16.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.50 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 3.31.

Reliance (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 11.71% and a net margin of 6.33%. The company had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Equities analysts predict that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. This is a boost from Reliance's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Reliance's payout ratio is presently 28.50%.

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.