Wolfe Research Lowers Reliance (NYSE:RS) to Underperform

Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Reliance (NYSE:RS) from a peer perform rating to an underperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $262.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on RS. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Reliance from $341.00 to $325.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Reliance from $355.00 to $345.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Reliance from $340.00 to $335.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Reliance from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Reliance from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $280.00 to $380.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $329.40.

Reliance Stock Down 1.3 %

Reliance stock opened at $304.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a current ratio of 5.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.20 and a beta of 0.87. Reliance has a fifty-two week low of $237.14 and a fifty-two week high of $342.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $291.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $302.79.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The industrial products company reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.73 by ($0.08). Reliance had a return on equity of 14.73% and a net margin of 7.99%. The business had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $6.49 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Reliance will post 18.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.55%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Stephen Paul Koch sold 20,421 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $6,031,954.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,552 shares in the company, valued at $2,230,709.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Reliance news, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.04, for a total transaction of $1,450,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 44,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,773,941.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Stephen Paul Koch sold 20,421 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $6,031,954.98. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,230,709.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 40,421 shares of company stock worth $11,866,855. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Reliance

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. grew its stake in Reliance by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 778 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in Reliance by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 480 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Rational Advisors LLC grew its stake in Reliance by 33.6% during the 1st quarter. Rational Advisors LLC now owns 159 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Reliance by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,023 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in Reliance by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,094 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,501,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

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.