Hilton Capital Management LLC Has $1.61 Million Stock Holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Hilton Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Hilton Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Reliance were worth $1,609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RS. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Reliance during the third quarter worth approximately $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Reliance by 157.8% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Reliance in the 3rd quarter valued at $78,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 304 shares during the period. Finally, Providence First Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Reliance during the fourth quarter worth $90,000. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Stock Performance

Shares of RS stock opened at $279.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.78 billion, a PE ratio of 18.07 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $286.39 and a 200-day moving average of $289.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 1.58. Reliance, Inc. has a one year low of $256.98 and a one year high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.74 by ($0.52). The firm had revenue of $3.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 11.87%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. Reliance’s payout ratio is currently 31.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Reliance in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price target for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Reliance presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $329.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Reliance

In other 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 transaction of $9,356,990.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at $27,115,919.60. The trade was a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.