Short Interest in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Decreases By 43.7%

Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 776,800 shares, a decline of 43.7% from the March 15th total of 1,380,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 474,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Reliance Stock Performance

Shares of RS stock traded up $1.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $276.97. 272,553 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 401,678. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.94 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 3.21. Reliance has a 12-month low of $250.07 and a 12-month high of $326.87. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $284.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $289.61.

Reliance (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.74 by ($0.52). The business had revenue of $3.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 11.87%. On average, analysts forecast that Reliance will post 16.98 EPS 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 dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of Reliance 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 directly owns 90,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,115,919.60. The trade was a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Reliance by 224.6% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 185 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in Reliance in the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Reliance by 157.8% during the 4th 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 during the period. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Reliance by 83.7% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 259 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% 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.