Reliance (NYSE:RS) Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Reliance (NYSE:RS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Reliance from $355.00 to $345.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Reliance from a buy rating to a neutral rating and upped their price target for the company from $280.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th.

Reliance Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE RS opened at $293.93 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $324.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $291.99. Reliance has a twelve month low of $229.12 and a twelve month high of $342.20. The company has a quick ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 5.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $16.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.73, a PEG ratio of 5.09 and a beta of 0.87.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $5.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.51 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.76 billion. Reliance had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 16.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.37 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Reliance will post 19.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be given a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. Reliance’s payout ratio is currently 20.55%.

Insider Activity

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 84,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,963,809.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 40,000 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total value of $12,918,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 54,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,452,863.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.97, for a total value of $13,507,103.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,534 shares in the company, valued at $26,963,809.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 85,996 shares of company stock valued at $27,603,878. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Reliance

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in Reliance in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Reliance in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new position in shares of Reliance in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Reliance during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Reliance during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

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.