Reliance (NYSE:RS) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $255.40 and last traded at $262.74, with a volume of 995 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $264.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $329.17.

Reliance Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 3.21. The company has a market capitalization of $13.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.87 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $288.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $290.80.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by ($0.52). The business had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. The trade was a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Reliance

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Reliance during the third quarter worth about $41,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Reliance by 224.6% in the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 185 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Reliance by 157.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in shares of Reliance in the fourth quarter worth $58,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Reliance by 1,216.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 329 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.