Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Shares Acquired by Metis Global Partners LLC

Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,804 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Reliance were worth $1,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Reliance during the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Reliance by 157.8% in the fourth 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 during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Reliance during the third quarter worth about $78,000. Providence First Trust Co acquired a new position in Reliance during the fourth quarter worth about $90,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Reliance by 41.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Stock Down 2.8 %

RS opened at $281.01 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.20 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $284.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $289.90. Reliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $256.98 and a 52 week high of $342.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.74 by ($0.52). The firm had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total value of $9,356,990.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. This trade represents a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.