Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Stake Decreased by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 10.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,183 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 6,374 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Reliance were worth $14,595,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Reliance by 35.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 723,755 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $189,790,000 after purchasing an additional 189,326 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Reliance by 68.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 193,347 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $50,699,000 after buying an additional 78,699 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Reliance by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 675,801 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $177,215,000 after buying an additional 37,971 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Reliance by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 536,462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $150,038,000 after acquiring an additional 35,627 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Reliance by 26.2% in the third quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 171,614 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,002,000 after acquiring an additional 35,627 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Reliance news, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 3,000 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total transaction of $968,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,030,592.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.97, for a total transaction of $13,507,103.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 84,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,963,809.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total value of $968,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,577 shares in the company, valued at $5,030,592.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 85,996 shares of company stock worth $27,603,878 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on RS. Citigroup cut Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $280.00 to $380.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Reliance from $295.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $365.67.

Reliance Price Performance

Shares of RS traded up $0.27 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $319.76. 158,947 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 236,543. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 5.66 and a quick ratio of 3.23. The company has a market capitalization of $18.36 billion, a PE ratio of 14.14, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $324.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $290.87. Reliance, Inc. has a one year low of $229.12 and a one year high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $4.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.81. Reliance had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 9.02%. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.87 EPS. Reliance’s revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Reliance, Inc. will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Reliance’s payout ratio is presently 19.46%.

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.