Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Boosts Stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 478.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,694 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,925 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.09% of Reliance worth $13,650,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of RS. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Reliance by 19.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 472,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $136,718,000 after buying an additional 77,937 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in Reliance by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 296,033 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $85,616,000 after acquiring an additional 20,056 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in Reliance by 78.5% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 289,758 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $82,816,000 after acquiring an additional 127,422 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Reliance by 0.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 285,871 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $82,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Reliance by 0.3% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 203,156 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $58,755,000 after purchasing an additional 528 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Reliance stock opened at $288.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.31 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $292.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $289.94. The stock has a market cap of $15.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.85 and a beta of 0.91. Reliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $256.98 and a 1-year high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.66 by ($0.02). Reliance had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 7.42%. The company had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.38 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.00 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $1.10 dividend. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Reliance in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Reliance from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Reliance from $340.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $328.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP William A. Smith II sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,849 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mark V. Kaminski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.01, for a total value of $1,490,050.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,724 shares of company stock worth $6,856,500. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

About Reliance

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.