Tredje AP fonden Decreases Stock Position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Tredje AP fonden lessened its position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 50.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,518 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 4,518 shares during the quarter. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in Reliance were worth $1,217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in Reliance by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,234 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $701,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Reliance by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 132,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,625,000 after acquiring an additional 4,113 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance in the fourth quarter valued at about $369,000. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in Reliance by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 11,149 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,002,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total value of $9,356,990.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,230 shares of the company’s stock, 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on RS. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Reliance in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $329.17.

Reliance Stock Up 1.5 %

Reliance stock opened at $283.15 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.00 billion, a PE ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 3.21. Reliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $256.98 and a fifty-two week high of $342.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $286.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.85.

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

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Reliance’s payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

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.