Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Sells 1,144 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lowered its position in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,361 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 1,144 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina owned 0.05% of Reliance worth $7,367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Reliance by 10.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 76,131 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $22,017,000 after purchasing an additional 7,373 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in Reliance by 26.7% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,198 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,371,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in Reliance by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 11,401 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,640,000 after acquiring an additional 827 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,600,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Reliance by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,396 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,139,000 after acquiring an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company's stock.

Reliance Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:RS traded up $1.77 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $276.97. 272,553 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 401,678. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.65 billion, a PE ratio of 17.94 and a beta of 0.83. Reliance, Inc. has a one year low of $250.07 and a one year high of $326.87. The business's 50 day moving average is $284.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $289.61.

Reliance (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $3.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.04 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Reliance's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. Reliance's dividend payout ratio is 31.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on RS shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Reliance from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Reliance presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $319.00.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. This represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.35% of the company's stock.

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.