Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 4,048 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its position in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 133,731 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 4,048 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.25% of Reliance worth $38,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Reliance by 4.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,168,880 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $333,809,000 after buying an additional 53,747 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Reliance by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 472,730 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $136,718,000 after acquiring an additional 77,937 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in shares of Reliance by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 296,033 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $85,616,000 after purchasing an additional 20,056 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of Reliance by 78.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 289,758 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $82,816,000 after acquiring an additional 127,422 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Reliance by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 203,156 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $58,755,000 after acquiring an additional 528 shares during the period. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Reliance

In other Reliance news, SVP William A. Smith II sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.71, for a total value of $2,091,115.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 16,849 shares in the company, valued at $5,420,491.79. This trade represents a 27.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 3,892 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,117 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,569,396.30. This trade represents a 4.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,724 shares of company stock valued at $6,856,500. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Reliance from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Reliance in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $341.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Reliance from $340.00 to $330.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $328.83.

Reliance Stock Down 3.1 %

NYSE RS traded down $9.27 on Friday, reaching $292.16. The company had a trading volume of 263,894 shares, compared to its average volume of 319,810. The company's fifty day moving average is $303.64 and its 200-day moving average is $292.23. Reliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $264.99 and a 1-year high of $342.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.04 and a beta of 0.87. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.66 by ($0.02). Reliance had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.00 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Reliance's payout ratio is 24.16%.

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.