Xponance Inc. Buys 466 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 466 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Reliance were worth $2,477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Reliance during the fourth quarter valued at about $7,352,000. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Reliance by 232.9% during the fourth quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,499,000 after purchasing an additional 6,493 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Reliance during the third quarter valued at about $4,600,000. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its position in Reliance by 38.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 42,881 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,402,000 after purchasing an additional 11,887 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:RS opened at $276.77 on Friday. Reliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $256.98 and a 52-week high of $342.20. The stock has a market cap of $14.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.93 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $288.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $289.73.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. Equities analysts predict that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.09%.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. This trade represents a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Reliance in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price target for the company. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Reliance presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.