Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Shares Sold by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP cut its holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) by 16.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 139,553 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 27,405 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned 0.26% of Reliance worth $37,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance during the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Reliance by 157.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Reliance during the third quarter worth about $78,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Reliance by 1,216.0% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 329 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. Finally, Providence First Trust Co acquired a new position in Reliance during the fourth quarter worth about $90,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

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. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on RS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Reliance in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $341.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Reliance from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Reliance currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $329.17.

Reliance Price Performance

RS stock traded down $1.29 on Thursday, reaching $281.77. The company had a trading volume of 524,181 shares, compared to its average volume of 357,164. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 3.21. The company's fifty day moving average is $287.60 and its 200 day moving average is $289.86. The company has a market cap of $14.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.25 and a beta of 0.87. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.74 by ($0.52). The company had revenue of $3.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 11.87%. On average, research analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

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

Reliance 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.