Sei Investments Co. Raises Stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) by 59.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 51,857 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 19,245 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned 0.10% of Reliance worth $13,964,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in RS. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Reliance during the third quarter worth approximately $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Reliance by 157.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $78,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Reliance by 1,216.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 329 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Providence First Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Reliance in the 4th quarter valued at $90,000. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Reliance Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:RS traded up $5.42 on Wednesday, reaching $294.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 331,571 shares, compared to its average volume of 389,622. Reliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $256.98 and a 52-week high of $342.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.07 and a beta of 0.87. The stock's 50-day moving average is $289.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $290.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

Reliance (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.74 by ($0.52). Reliance had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 11.87%. The company had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.04 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. This is a positive change from Reliance's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Reliance's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on RS shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Reliance from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $329.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Reliance

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. The trade was a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.