Railway Pension Investments Ltd Boosts Stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Railway Pension Investments Ltd lifted its position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 9.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 61,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,400 shares during the period. Railway Pension Investments Ltd owned 0.11% of Reliance worth $20,652,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in Reliance in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Reliance during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Reliance during the first quarter worth $49,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Reliance during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Rational Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Reliance by 33.6% in the 1st quarter. Rational Advisors LLC now owns 159 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Stock Performance

RS traded down $8.73 on Friday, reaching $287.22. The company had a trading volume of 402,335 shares, compared to its average volume of 386,900. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $290.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $303.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.50 billion, a PE ratio of 13.42 and a beta of 0.86. Reliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $237.14 and a 1 year high of $342.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.43, a current ratio of 5.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Reliance Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In other news, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.77, for a total transaction of $1,463,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,430,326.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, COO Stephen Paul Koch sold 20,421 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $6,031,954.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,230,709.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.77, for a total value of $1,463,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 39,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,430,326.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,421 shares of company stock worth $8,967,605 over the last ninety days. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.