Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Shares Acquired by iA Global Asset Management Inc.

iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 4.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,408 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Reliance were worth $1,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Comerica Bank lifted its position in Reliance by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 32,217 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,766,000 after acquiring an additional 854 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in Reliance by 25.5% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,236 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Reliance by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 122,254 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $40,855,000 after purchasing an additional 7,058 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Reliance by 96.6% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,981 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,664,000 after purchasing an additional 2,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in Reliance during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,637,000. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Reliance

In related news, COO Stephen Paul Koch sold 20,421 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $6,031,954.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,230,709.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Stephen Paul Koch sold 20,421 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $6,031,954.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,230,709.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.36, for a total value of $1,471,800.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 34,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,020,603.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,421 shares of company stock worth $8,967,605 in the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Reliance Stock Performance

RS traded down $8.80 during trading on Friday, reaching $287.15. 172,878 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 311,806. The stock has a market cap of $16.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.33 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $291.49 and a 200 day moving average of $303.10. The company has a current ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Reliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $237.14 and a 52 week high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The industrial products company reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.73 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 14.73% and a net margin of 7.99%. Reliance’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.49 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 18.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on RS shares. Citigroup downgraded Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $280.00 to $380.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Reliance from $341.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Bank of America lowered their price target on Reliance from $340.00 to $335.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Reliance from $355.00 to $345.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $329.40.

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.