Smithfield Trust Co Sells 135 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Smithfield Trust Co decreased its stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 20.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 510 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 135 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co’s holdings in Reliance were worth $137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in Reliance by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 941 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $253,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Reliance by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,077,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Reliance by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 19,578 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,662,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Reliance by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,694 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $725,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Reliance by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $133,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of RS stock opened at $283.18 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $15.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $284.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $289.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 3.21. Reliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $256.98 and a fifty-two week high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last issued 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 company had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. Research analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. This is a positive change from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Reliance’s payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on RS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Reliance in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price objective on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Reliance has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $329.17.

Insider Activity at Reliance

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total value of $9,356,990.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at $27,115,919.60. This trade represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.