Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Shares Acquired by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,671 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,502 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Reliance were worth $3,824,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Reliance during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Reliance by 183.6% in the third quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 207 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Reliance by 187.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 285 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance during the 4th quarter worth approximately $89,000. 79.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Reliance Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of RS stock traded up $3.25 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $295.41. 438,149 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 256,546. The company has a market capitalization of $16.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.65, a P/E/G ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $320.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $293.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 3.21 and a current ratio of 5.74. Reliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $229.12 and a fifty-two week 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). Reliance had a return on equity of 16.26% and a net margin of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.37 EPS. Reliance’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Reliance, Inc. will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.55%.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In related news, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.81, for a total transaction of $1,449,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,042 shares in the company, valued at $14,212,862.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Reliance news, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.81, for a total transaction of $1,449,050.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,212,862.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.96, for a total value of $209,924.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 83,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,091,176.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 100,996 shares of company stock worth $31,966,978. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Reliance from $355.00 to $345.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com lowered Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup lowered shares of Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $280.00 to $380.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, 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.

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.