Reliance (NYSE:RS) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $283.04, but opened at $298.54. Reliance shares last traded at $292.84, with a volume of 38,349 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on RS shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Reliance in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Reliance from $340.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Reliance from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Reliance has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $328.17.

Reliance Trading Down 0.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.31 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The company’s 50 day moving average is $283.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $289.17. The firm has a market cap of $15.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.96 and a beta of 0.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 3,892 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.90, for a total transaction of $1,260,618.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,117 shares in the company, valued at $27,569,396.30. This trade represents a 4.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Reliance by 6,311.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 816,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $219,841,000 after buying an additional 803,730 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Reliance by 53.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,685 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $195,402,000 after purchasing an additional 252,955 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Reliance by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 716,280 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $192,894,000 after purchasing an additional 50,528 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Reliance by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 503,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $135,546,000 after acquiring an additional 25,750 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Reliance by 1,127.9% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 426,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $114,971,000 after acquiring an additional 392,213 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

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.