Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Cuts Holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 11.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,833 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,635 shares during the quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Reliance were worth $3,455,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Reliance in the third quarter worth $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Reliance by 157.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Reliance during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 1,216.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 329 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Finally, Providence First Trust Co purchased a new position in Reliance in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $90,000. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Reliance Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RS opened at $288.72 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $285.24 and a 200 day moving average of $289.81. The company has a current ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market cap of $15.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.70 and a beta of 0.91. Reliance, Inc. has a 12 month low of $256.98 and a 12 month high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by ($0.52). Reliance had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 11.87%. The firm had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 issued a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.09%.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total value of $9,356,990.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,115,919.60. This trade represents a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on RS. Wolfe Research upgraded Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Reliance in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 target price on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Reliance presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.