IFM Investors Pty Ltd Boosts Stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,442 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Reliance were worth $3,490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Reliance in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Reliance during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new position in Reliance during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Reliance during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Reliance in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on RS. Citigroup cut Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $280.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Reliance from $355.00 to $345.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $362.33.

Reliance Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of RS traded down $1.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $290.62. 488,495 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 223,247. The company has a market capitalization of $16.69 billion, a PE ratio of 13.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 3.23, a current ratio of 5.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business has a 50 day moving average of $324.88 and a 200 day moving average of $291.41. Reliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $229.12 and a 1-year high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $5.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.51 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.76 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 16.26% and a net margin of 8.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.37 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Reliance, Inc. will post 19.51 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. Reliance’s payout ratio is presently 20.55%.

Insider Activity

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.97, for a total transaction of $13,507,103.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,963,809.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Reliance news, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total value of $12,918,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 54,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,452,863.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.97, for a total transaction of $13,507,103.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,534 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,963,809.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 85,996 shares of company stock valued at $27,603,878. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.