Principal Securities Inc. Purchases 168 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 26.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Reliance were worth $215,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Reliance by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 181,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $48,770,000 after purchasing an additional 2,389 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA boosted its position in shares of Reliance by 108.0% during the fourth quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 36,364 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,791,000 after acquiring an additional 18,880 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Reliance by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 22,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,998,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in Reliance by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 941 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $253,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Wealth Services lifted its stake in Reliance by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 3,329 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $896,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 3,892 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.90, for a total value of $1,260,618.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,569,396.30. The trade was a 4.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Price Performance

RS opened at $299.55 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $282.16 and a 200 day moving average of $289.46. The stock has a market cap of $16.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.40 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Reliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $256.98 and a 52-week high of $342.20.

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

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.20 per share. This is an increase from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Reliance in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Reliance presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $329.17.

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.