Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,010 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 60 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Reliance were worth $3,639,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new position in shares of Reliance during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Reliance during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Reliance by 183.6% during the 3rd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 207 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its holdings in Reliance by 160.0% during the 1st quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 221 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

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

Reliance Stock Performance

Shares of Reliance stock opened at $319.49 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.66, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $324.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $290.21. The firm has a market cap of $18.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.13, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.87. Reliance, Inc. has a 12 month low of $229.12 and a 12 month high of $342.20.

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 business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.87 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 19.51 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 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on RS shares. Citigroup lowered Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $280.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Reliance from $295.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.