Federated Hermes Inc. Cuts Stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Federated Hermes Inc. cut its stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,440 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,056 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Reliance were worth $4,427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Reliance by 157.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Reliance by 1,216.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 329 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Providence First Trust Co purchased a new position in Reliance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $90,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Reliance by 41.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Reliance by 35,700.0% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 358 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Reliance Price Performance

NYSE:RS opened at $279.38 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.09 and a beta of 0.83. 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 $250.07 and a 52 week high of $330.46. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $285.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $290.06.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last posted its 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 net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 11.87%. The company had revenue of $3.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Equities analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Reliance

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 this link. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on RS. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $319.00.

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.