Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 273,130 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 21,771 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned 0.50% of Reliance worth $73,543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in RS. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Reliance by 157.8% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Reliance by 1,216.0% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 329 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the period. Providence First Trust Co purchased a new position in Reliance during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $90,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position 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 worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Abound Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Reliance by 35,700.0% during the 4th 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. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp increased their price target on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded Reliance from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a 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, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $319.00.

Reliance Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:RS traded up $1.71 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $284.82. 166,430 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 401,810. Reliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $250.07 and a 52 week high of $326.87. The firm's 50 day moving average is $283.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $289.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.45 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $3.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.66 by $0.11. Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. The company had revenue of $3.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.44 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict 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 given a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. This is a boost from Reliance's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Reliance's payout ratio is 31.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 shares were sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total transaction of $9,356,990.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. This trade represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.35% 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.