Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Shares Purchased by Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 651 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Reliance were worth $175,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in Reliance by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 910 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Reliance by 1,216.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 329 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $1,024,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Providence First Trust Co purchased a new stake in Reliance during the 4th quarter worth approximately $90,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in Reliance during the 4th quarter worth approximately $799,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE:RS opened at $283.15 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $286.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $289.88. Reliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $256.98 and a 52 week high of $342.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is 31.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Reliance

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total transaction of $9,356,990.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on RS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Reliance in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.