1,650 Shares in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Purchased by Erste Asset Management GmbH

Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Reliance by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,234 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Reliance by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $701,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its position in Reliance by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 132,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,625,000 after purchasing an additional 4,113 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance purchased a new position in Reliance in the fourth quarter worth about $369,000. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in Reliance by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 11,149 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,002,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Reliance Stock Up 1.5 %

RS stock opened at $283.15 on Friday. Reliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $256.98 and a twelve month high of $342.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market cap of $15.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $286.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $289.88.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Reliance’s payout ratio is currently 31.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total value of $9,356,990.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,115,919.60. The trade was a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on RS. KeyCorp raised their target price on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Reliance in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five 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.

Reliance 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.