Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 351 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Meritage Portfolio Management decreased its position in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 32,084 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 351 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Reliance were worth $8,973,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new stake in Reliance during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Reliance in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its stake in Reliance by 183.6% during the 3rd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 207 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Reliance by 26.4% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 230 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Reliance by 187.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 285 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.96, for a total transaction of $209,924.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 83,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,091,176.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $27,091,176.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 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 quarter, insiders have sold 85,996 shares of company stock valued at $27,603,878. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on RS. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup cut shares of Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $280.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Reliance from $355.00 to $345.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Reliance currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $362.33.

Reliance Stock Performance

NYSE RS traded up $0.75 on Friday, hitting $292.88. 269,555 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 245,814. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a current ratio of 5.66. The business’s fifty day moving average is $325.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $291.40. Reliance, Inc. has a 12 month low of $229.12 and a 12 month high of $342.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a PEG ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 0.87.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.76 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 9.02%. The firm’s revenue was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.37 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Reliance, Inc. will post 19.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.46%.

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.