Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Shares Sold by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased its stake in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 29.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 202,470 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 83,401 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.37% of Reliance worth $54,517,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in RS. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Reliance by 6,311.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 816,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $219,841,000 after buying an additional 803,730 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Reliance by 1,127.9% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 426,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $114,971,000 after acquiring an additional 392,213 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Reliance by 53.5% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,685 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $195,402,000 after purchasing an additional 252,955 shares during the period. Edge Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Reliance during the fourth quarter worth $46,979,000. Finally, Woodward Diversified Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance in the fourth quarter valued at $21,015,000. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Reliance Stock Performance

NYSE RS opened at $264.32 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $288.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $290.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.12 and a beta of 0.87. Reliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $256.98 and a 1-year high of $342.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. Equities analysts predict that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $329.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.