Blue Trust Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Blue Trust Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 74.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 264 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 760 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Reliance were worth $71,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in Reliance by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,198 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,371,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Reliance by 24.2% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 27,916 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,074,000 after buying an additional 5,431 shares during the last quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC grew its position in Reliance by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 86,406 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $24,989,000 after buying an additional 3,419 shares during the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Reliance by 232.9% in the 4th quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,499,000 after buying an additional 6,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Reliance by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 127,806 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,963,000 after buying an additional 1,696 shares during the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Reliance Price Performance

Shares of NYSE RS opened at $301.06 on Monday. Reliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $256.98 and a 1-year high of $342.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $281.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $289.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.29 billion, a PE ratio of 19.50 and a beta of 0.90.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.74 by ($0.52). Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. The business had revenue of $3.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.20 dividend. This is a positive change 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 dividend yield of 1.59%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on RS. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp cut their price target on Reliance from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Reliance in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price target for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Reliance presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $328.17.

Insider Activity at Reliance

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 3,892 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.90, for a total value of $1,260,618.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,569,396.30. This represents a 4.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.