United Capital Management of KS Inc. Grows Stock Position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

United Capital Management of KS Inc. boosted its stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,114 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,377 shares during the quarter. Reliance comprises about 1.6% of United Capital Management of KS Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. United Capital Management of KS Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Reliance worth $8,647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. This represents a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Reliance Price Performance

Shares of RS opened at $283.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $286.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 1.58. Reliance, Inc. has a 12 month low of $256.98 and a 12 month high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by ($0.52). The company had revenue of $3.13 billion for 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

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

Reliance 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.