Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Sells 35 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 10.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 287 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 35 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Reliance were worth $76,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Reliance by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,804 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,024,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Providence First Trust Co bought a new stake in Reliance in the fourth quarter worth about $90,000. Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Reliance during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $799,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Reliance during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,352,000. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 22,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,058,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Reliance Price Performance

RS opened at $288.72 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.70 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Reliance, Inc. has a 12-month low of $256.98 and a 12-month high of $342.20. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $285.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $289.99.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last issued its 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). Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. The business had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.20 dividend. This is an increase from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. Reliance’s payout ratio is 31.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. The trade was a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.