Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $328.83.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Reliance from $340.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Reliance from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Reliance in a research report on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 target price for the company.

Reliance Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:RS opened at $319.70 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 3.31. The company’s fifty day moving average is $299.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $291.77. Reliance has a 1-year low of $261.77 and a 1-year high of $342.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.56 and a beta of 0.85.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.66 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.38 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 7.42%. Reliance’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.00 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Reliance will post 16.42 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is 24.16%.

Insider Activity at Reliance

In other news, SVP William A. Smith II sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.71, for a total value of $2,091,115.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 16,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,420,491.79. This represents a 27.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 6,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.18, for a total transaction of $2,014,715.76. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,245 shares in the company, valued at $2,941,574.10. This trade represents a 40.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,832 shares of company stock valued at $5,595,881 over the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Reliance

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Reliance in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Reliance in the third quarter worth $41,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Reliance by 27.0% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 249 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance during the 3rd quarter valued at $78,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Reliance by 17.9% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 270 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.