Westpac Banking Corp Has $3.55 Million Position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

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

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bryce Point Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Reliance during the fourth quarter worth $1,412,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Reliance by 29.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 145,627 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,212,000 after acquiring an additional 33,562 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG raised its position in shares of Reliance by 116.6% in the 4th quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 4,748 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,278,000 after acquiring an additional 2,556 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Reliance by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,479,542 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $398,381,000 after purchasing an additional 138,866 shares during the period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Reliance by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 34,697 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,343,000 after purchasing an additional 9,642 shares in the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Reliance

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

Reliance Price Performance

Shares of RS opened at $294.43 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $15.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.07 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s fifty day moving average is $289.13 and its 200 day moving average 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 12-month low of $256.98 and a 12-month high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by ($0.52). Reliance had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 11.87%. The business had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on RS. Wolfe Research upgraded Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $329.17.

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.