Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 1,240 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Van ECK Associates Corp lowered its position in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,957 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 1,240 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in Reliance were worth $4,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Reliance by 6,311.2% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 816,465 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $219,841,000 after acquiring an additional 803,730 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Reliance by 27,269.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 112,213 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $32,453,000 after purchasing an additional 111,803 shares in the last quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Reliance during the 4th quarter worth approximately $21,015,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased 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 worth $136,718,000 after purchasing an additional 77,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Reliance by 68.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 139,660 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $40,391,000 after purchasing an additional 56,933 shares in the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 3,892 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.90, for a total value of $1,260,618.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,117 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,569,396.30. The trade was a 4.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Reliance Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:RS traded down $1.60 on Friday, hitting $301.06. The company had a trading volume of 531,353 shares, compared to its average volume of 428,969. The stock has a market cap of $16.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.50 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $281.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.17. Reliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $256.98 and a 1-year high of $342.20. The company has a current ratio of 3.31, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.74 by ($0.52). The company had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 6.33%. Analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.20 dividend. This is an increase from Reliance's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Reliance's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on RS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Reliance in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $341.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Reliance from $340.00 to $330.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Reliance from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Reliance from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Reliance currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $328.17.

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.