Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE:RS) Shares Sold by Putnam Investments LLC

Putnam Investments LLC cut its stake in Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE:RS) by 10.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,573 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,642 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC’s holdings in Reliance Steel & Aluminum were worth $3,485,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RS. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Reliance Steel & Aluminum by 814.7% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,436,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $47,995,000 after buying an additional 1,279,892 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Reliance Steel & Aluminum by 14.5% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,453,558 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,656,886,000 after purchasing an additional 815,429 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Reliance Steel & Aluminum by 246.7% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 968,450 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $248,640,000 after purchasing an additional 689,091 shares during the last quarter. CI Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Reliance Steel & Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,101,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Reliance Steel & Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $78,366,000. 80.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Reliance Steel & Aluminum

In other Reliance Steel & Aluminum news, SVP William A. Smith II sold 6,000 shares of Reliance Steel & Aluminum stock in a transaction on Monday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.71, for a total value of $1,756,260.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 18,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,375,911.86. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Reliance Steel & Aluminum news, SVP William A. Smith II sold 6,000 shares of Reliance Steel & Aluminum stock in a transaction on Monday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.71, for a total value of $1,756,260.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 18,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,375,911.86. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 10,000 shares of Reliance Steel & Aluminum stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.76, for a total transaction of $2,857,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 114,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,588,641.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,503 shares of company stock worth $10,634,666 in the last quarter. 0.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE RS opened at $261.03 on Monday. Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. has a 1 year low of $168.24 and a 1 year high of $295.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $280.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $260.76. The firm has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.34 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 5.18.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE:RS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The industrial products company reported $6.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.52 by ($0.03). Reliance Steel & Aluminum had a return on equity of 20.88% and a net margin of 9.63%. The firm had revenue of $3.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. will post 22.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 18th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 17th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Reliance Steel & Aluminum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Reliance Steel & Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $270.00.

About Reliance Steel & Aluminum

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co 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.