Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) by 8.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 155,400 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 14,700 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.29% of Reliance worth $41,843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Reliance by 6,311.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 816,465 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $219,841,000 after purchasing an additional 803,730 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Reliance by 53.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,685 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $195,402,000 after purchasing an additional 252,955 shares during the period. Edge Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Reliance during the fourth quarter valued at $46,979,000. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC acquired a new position in Reliance during the fourth quarter valued at $21,015,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Reliance during the fourth quarter valued at $20,640,000. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Reliance

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total value of $9,356,990.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,115,919.60. This represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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Reliance Price Performance

Shares of RS stock traded down $1.29 on Thursday, reaching $281.77. 524,181 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 357,164. The company has a market cap of $14.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.25 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $287.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.86. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $256.98 and a 1 year high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. Equities research analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Reliance's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on RS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Reliance in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $341.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of 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 shares of Reliance from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Reliance currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $329.17.

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.