Reliance (NYSE:RS) Downgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Reliance (NYSE:RS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Friday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Reliance from $355.00 to $345.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Reliance from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their price target for the company from $280.00 to $380.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $362.33.

Reliance Stock Down 0.6 %

RS opened at $290.42 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $324.88 and a 200 day moving average of $291.41. The company has a market cap of $16.68 billion, a PE ratio of 13.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 0.87. Reliance has a 12 month low of $229.12 and a 12 month high of $342.20. The company has a current ratio of 5.74, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $5.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.51 by ($0.21). The business had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.76 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 16.26% and a net margin of 8.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.37 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Reliance will post 19.51 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be given a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.55%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.97, for a total value of $13,507,103.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 84,534 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,963,809.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 650 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.96, for a total value of $209,924.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 83,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,091,176.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.97, for a total transaction of $13,507,103.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 84,534 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,963,809.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 85,996 shares of company stock worth $27,603,878. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Reliance

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RS. AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Reliance in the third quarter valued at about $388,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Reliance by 113.0% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,706 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $447,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Reliance by 57.9% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 3,072 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $806,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Reliance by 26.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 230 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Reliance by 16.1% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 28,146 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,381,000 after acquiring an additional 3,894 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

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.