Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Raises Holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 226.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,390 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,589 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Reliance were worth $3,336,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Reliance during the third quarter valued at about $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Reliance by 157.8% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Reliance in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $78,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Reliance by 41.8% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Reliance by 35,700.0% in the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 358 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Reliance

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 3,892 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.90, for a total transaction of $1,260,618.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,117 shares in the company, valued at $27,569,396.30. This represents a 4.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Stock Performance

NYSE RS opened at $299.55 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.40 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 3.21. Reliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $256.98 and a 52-week high of $342.20. The company has a fifty day moving average of $282.16 and a 200-day moving average of $289.46.

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

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.20 per share. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Reliance in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp upped their target price on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $329.17.

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.