Cambridge Trust Co. Trims Stock Position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Cambridge Trust Co. decreased its holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 843 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 78 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Trust Co.’s holdings in Reliance were worth $236,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its position in Reliance by 212.0% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 6,876 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,261,000 after buying an additional 4,672 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Reliance by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 11,264 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,065,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. purchased a new position in Reliance during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,533,000. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can increased its stake in shares of Reliance by 8.2% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 40,567 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,679,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Reliance by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 35,984 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,602,000 after purchasing an additional 4,573 shares during the period. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Reliance Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of RS opened at $319.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.35 billion, a PE ratio of 14.13, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s fifty day moving average is $324.38 and its 200 day moving average is $289.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a current ratio of 5.66. Reliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $229.12 and a fifty-two week high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last posted its 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 net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.87 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $1.10 dividend. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. This is a positive change from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.46%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.96, for a total transaction of $209,924.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 83,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,091,176.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total value of $968,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,577 shares in the company, valued at $5,030,592.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 650 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.96, for a total transaction of $209,924.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 83,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,091,176.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 85,996 shares of company stock valued at $27,603,878. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup downgraded shares of 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 raised their price objective on Reliance from $295.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $365.67.

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.