Smithfield Trust Co Sells 135 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Smithfield Trust Co lessened its stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 20.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 510 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 135 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co’s holdings in Reliance were worth $137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of RS. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of Reliance by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 19,578 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,662,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Reliance in the third quarter worth about $1,025,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Reliance by 19.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 472,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $136,718,000 after acquiring an additional 77,937 shares during the period. Olympiad Research LP bought a new stake in Reliance in the third quarter worth about $285,000. Finally, SpiderRock Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Reliance in the third quarter worth about $707,000. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Stock Up 0.7 %

RS stock opened at $283.18 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $284.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $289.90. Reliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $256.98 and a twelve month high of $342.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.33 billion, a PE ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 0.91. 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 (NYSE:RS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is 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 Activity at Reliance

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,115,919.60. This trade represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on RS shares. Wolfe Research raised Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Reliance in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.