Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super Takes $10.56 Million Position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super acquired a new stake in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 39,220 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,560,000. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super owned 0.07% of Reliance at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RS. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Reliance by 6,311.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 816,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $219,841,000 after purchasing an additional 803,730 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Reliance during the fourth quarter valued at about $186,255,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Reliance by 1,127.9% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 426,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $114,971,000 after buying an additional 392,213 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Reliance by 53.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,685 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $195,402,000 after acquiring an additional 252,955 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edge Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Reliance in the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,979,000. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

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 transaction of $9,356,990.72. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Stock Performance

NYSE:RS opened at $278.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.71 billion, a PE ratio of 18.02 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Reliance, Inc. has a 12-month low of $250.07 and a 12-month high of $330.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $285.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.98.

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

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. This is a positive change from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on RS. Wolfe Research upgraded Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Reliance has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $319.00.

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.