Westpac Banking Corp Sells 5,326 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Westpac Banking Corp lowered its stake in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 28.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 13,186 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 5,326 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Reliance were worth $3,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in RS. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Reliance during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,352,000. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in Reliance by 26.7% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,198 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Reliance by 232.9% in the fourth quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,499,000 after buying an additional 6,493 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Reliance in the third quarter valued at $4,600,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Reliance by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,951 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after buying an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of RS opened at $294.43 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $289.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $290.84. 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 twelve month low of $256.98 and a twelve month high of $342.20. The stock has a market cap of $15.60 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07 and a beta of 0.87.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Reliance’s payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Reliance

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. The trade was a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on RS shares. 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. Wolfe Research raised shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $329.17.

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.