National Pension Service Sells 4,900 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

National Pension Service cut its stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 87,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 4,900 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.16% of Reliance worth $23,453,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of RS. Integrated Advisors Network LLC boosted its holdings in Reliance by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 1,130 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in Reliance by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,640 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Reliance by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 122,104 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,314,000 after purchasing an additional 6,354 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Reliance by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,788 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $806,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Reliance by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 19,578 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,662,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Reliance Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Reliance stock opened at $297.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.26 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $284.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $289.80. Reliance, Inc. has a 12-month low of $256.98 and a 12-month high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by ($0.52). The firm had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. Research analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Reliance in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price target for the company. 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 increased their price objective on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $329.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 3,892 shares of the firm’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 in the company, valued at approximately $27,569,396.30. This trade represents a 4.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.