World Investment Advisors LLC Takes Position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 15,907 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,600,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Trust Point Inc. increased its stake in Reliance by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 972 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Reliance by 17.9% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 270 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 3.1% during the third quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 1,570 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $454,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Consolidated Planning Corp lifted its position in shares of Reliance by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $215,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Reliance by 27.0% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 249 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on RS. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Reliance from $340.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Reliance from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Reliance in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $328.83.

Reliance Price Performance

RS opened at $301.69 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $303.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $292.38. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $263.80 and a 1 year high of $342.20. The stock has a market cap of $16.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.57 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Reliance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.46%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP William A. Smith II sold 6,500 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.71, for a total value of $2,091,115.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 16,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,420,491.79. This trade represents a 27.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 3,892 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.90, for a total transaction of $1,260,618.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,569,396.30. This represents a 4.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,724 shares of company stock worth $6,856,500. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.