MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 1,762 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 5.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,473 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,762 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Reliance were worth $8,235,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Reliance by 96.6% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,981 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,664,000 after purchasing an additional 2,447 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Reliance by 25.5% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,236 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,425,000 after buying an additional 1,469 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank lifted its stake in shares of Reliance by 2.7% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 32,217 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,766,000 after buying an additional 854 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance during the first quarter valued at approximately $849,000. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Reliance during the first quarter valued at approximately $10,356,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Reliance news, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 6,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.18, for a total transaction of $2,014,715.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 9,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,941,574.10. The trade was a 40.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP William A. Smith II sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.71, for a total value of $2,091,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,849 shares in the company, valued at $5,420,491.79. This trade represents a 27.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 17,832 shares of company stock worth $5,595,881. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Reliance from $340.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Reliance from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $326.40.

Reliance Price Performance

NYSE RS opened at $322.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.31 and a quick ratio of 1.58. Reliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $261.77 and a 1-year high of $342.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $297.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $291.39.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.66 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.38 billion. Reliance had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.00 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.16%.

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.