O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Boosts Position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 38.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 34,697 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,642 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Reliance were worth $9,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,352,000. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in Reliance by 26.7% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,198 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,371,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 worth $2,499,000 after acquiring an additional 6,493 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Reliance in the third quarter valued at $4,600,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Reliance by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,951 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the period. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at $27,115,919.60. The trade was a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on RS shares. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Reliance in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price target on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $329.17.

Reliance Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:RS opened at $288.72 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.29 billion, a PE ratio of 18.70 and a beta of 0.87. Reliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $256.98 and a 1 year high of $342.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $289.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $290.74.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last announced 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 business 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 predict that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.20 dividend. 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. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.09%.

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.