Hancock Whitney Corp Trims Stock Position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Hancock Whitney Corp lessened its holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,479 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 88 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Reliance were worth $5,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Reliance by 100.0% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in Reliance in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,637,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Reliance by 96.6% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,981 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,664,000 after purchasing an additional 2,447 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 122,254 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $40,855,000 after buying an additional 7,058 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in Reliance by 25.5% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,236 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,469 shares in the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on RS shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Reliance from $340.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Reliance from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Reliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $326.40.

Reliance Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:RS opened at $323.01 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Reliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $261.77 and a fifty-two week high of $342.20. The stock has a market cap of $17.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.53 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $295.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $290.77.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.66 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.38 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 7.42%. Reliance’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.16%.

Insider Activity

In other Reliance news, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 6,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.18, for a total value of $2,014,715.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 9,245 shares in the company, valued at $2,941,574.10. This represents a 40.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP William A. Smith II sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.71, for a total value of $2,091,115.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,420,491.79. The trade was a 27.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,832 shares of company stock worth $5,595,881. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.