Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Shares Sold by Blueshift Asset Management LLC

Blueshift Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 14.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 983 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 167 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Reliance were worth $265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of RS. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Reliance during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Reliance by 157.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Reliance in the third quarter worth $78,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Reliance by 1,216.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 329 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Providence First Trust Co bought a new position in Reliance during the 4th quarter valued at $90,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RS opened at $276.77 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.93 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $288.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $289.73. Reliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $256.98 and a 52-week high of $342.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.74 by ($0.52). The company had revenue of $3.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. This is a positive change from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total transaction of $9,356,990.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. The trade was a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their target price 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. Wolfe Research upgraded Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Reliance in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 target price for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $329.17.

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.