HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 405 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,596 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 405 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Reliance were worth $13,354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Reliance in the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Reliance by 157.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Reliance in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $78,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Reliance by 1,216.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 329 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Providence First Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Reliance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $90,000. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on RS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Reliance in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $329.17.

Reliance Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE:RS opened at $283.15 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $15.00 billion, a PE ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 0.87. Reliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $256.98 and a twelve month high of $342.20. The company has a current ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $286.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $289.96.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. Analysts anticipate that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.20 dividend. This is an increase from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is 31.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total value of $9,356,990.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,115,919.60. This represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.