Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $329.17.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on RS. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at $27,115,919.60. This trade represents a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in Reliance by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 941 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in shares of Reliance by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 11,149 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,002,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Reliance by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 1,342 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its stake in Reliance by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,619 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $436,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Reliance by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 998 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $269,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Stock Performance

RS opened at $264.32 on Wednesday. Reliance has a twelve month low of $256.98 and a twelve month high of $342.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.00 billion, a PE ratio of 17.12 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $288.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $290.80.

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

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.09%.

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.