Reliance (NYSE:RS) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

Reliance (NYSE:RS) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Citigroup lowered shares of Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $280.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Reliance from $355.00 to $345.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th.

Reliance Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of RS traded up $3.25 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $295.41. The company had a trading volume of 438,149 shares, compared to its average volume of 256,546. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 3.21 and a current ratio of 5.74. The company has a market capitalization of $16.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $319.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $293.74. Reliance has a 52 week low of $229.12 and a 52 week high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $5.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.51 by ($0.21). Reliance had a return on equity of 16.26% and a net margin of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.76 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Reliance will post 19.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total value of $12,918,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 54,042 shares in the company, valued at $17,452,863.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.96, for a total value of $209,924.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 83,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,091,176.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total transaction of $12,918,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 54,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,452,863.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 100,996 shares of company stock valued at $31,966,978 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Reliance

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Reliance during the first quarter valued at about $231,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Reliance by 13.1% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 51,053 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,062,000 after buying an additional 5,902 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Reliance by 14.8% during the 1st quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 901 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Reliance during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in Reliance by 108.9% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 28,562 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,545,000 after acquiring an additional 14,891 shares in the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.