10,299 Shares in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Bought by Generali Asset Management SPA SGR

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 10,299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,773,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in RS. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Reliance in the third quarter valued at $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Reliance in the third quarter valued at $78,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Reliance by 1,216.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 329 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Providence First Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Reliance in the fourth quarter valued at $90,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE RS opened at $282.66 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.31 and a beta of 0.87. Reliance, Inc. has a one year low of $256.98 and a one year high of $342.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The business’s fifty day moving average is $287.60 and its 200-day moving average is $289.86.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its 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). The business 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. This is an increase from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp raised their price objective 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. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Reliance in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 target price for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Reliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $329.17.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total transaction of $9,356,990.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. This represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Reliance

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.