Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 4,500 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 41,849 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Reliance were worth $11,205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 6,311.2% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 816,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $219,841,000 after buying an additional 803,730 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Reliance by 53.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,685 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $195,402,000 after acquiring an additional 252,955 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Reliance by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 716,280 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $192,894,000 after acquiring an additional 50,528 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Reliance by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 503,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $135,546,000 after purchasing an additional 25,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Reliance by 1,127.9% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 426,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $114,971,000 after purchasing an additional 392,213 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 value of $9,356,990.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,115,919.60. This represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Stock Performance

Shares of Reliance stock opened at $288.72 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $289.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $290.74. Reliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $256.98 and a fifty-two week high of $342.20. The firm has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.70 and a beta of 0.87.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on RS. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group began 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. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.