Plato Investment Management Ltd Sells 3,216 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Plato Investment Management Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 80.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 796 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,216 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Reliance were worth $230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Reliance during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Reliance by 27.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 249 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Reliance by 17.9% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 270 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Reliance in the second quarter valued at approximately $117,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Reliance by 17.6% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $133,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RS opened at $310.33 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $291.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $289.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.31 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.04 and a beta of 0.85. Reliance, Inc. has a one year low of $261.77 and a one year high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.66 by ($0.02). Reliance had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. Reliance’s payout ratio is 24.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 6,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.18, for a total transaction of $2,014,715.76. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,245 shares in the company, valued at $2,941,574.10. This trade represents a 40.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark V. Kaminski sold 5,000 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.01, for a total value of $1,490,050.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,832 shares of company stock valued at $5,595,881 over the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research cut shares of Reliance from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $262.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, July 26th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Reliance from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Reliance from $340.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $326.40.

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.