Reliance (RS) Scheduled to Post Earnings on Thursday

Reliance (NYSE:RS) is set to issue its quarterly earnings data before the market opens on Thursday, April 25th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $5.48 per share for the quarter. Reliance has set its Q1 guidance at $5.30-5.50 EPS.Parties interested in registering for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $4.73 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.87 earnings per share. Reliance’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect Reliance to post $20 EPS for the current fiscal year and $18 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Reliance Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:RS opened at $322.37 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $323.53 and a 200 day moving average of $289.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26, a PEG ratio of 5.73 and a beta of 0.87. Reliance has a 52 week low of $229.12 and a 52 week high of $342.20. The company has a quick ratio of 3.23, a current ratio of 5.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.97, for a total transaction of $13,507,103.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 84,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,963,809.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total transaction of $968,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.97, for a total transaction of $13,507,103.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 84,534 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,963,809.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 85,996 shares of company stock valued at $27,603,878 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Reliance

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Reliance 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 period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Reliance by 13.8% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,560,441 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $657,368,000 after purchasing an additional 310,339 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Reliance by 3.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,394,787 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $358,099,000 after purchasing an additional 50,623 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Reliance by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 677,944 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $137,243,000 after purchasing an additional 9,041 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Reliance by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 605,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $122,573,000 after purchasing an additional 134,295 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on RS shares. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup cut shares of Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $280.00 to $380.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Reliance from $295.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued 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 price target of $365.67.

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.