KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Makes New Investment in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 20,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,412,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James Trust N.A. acquired a new stake in Reliance during the 3rd quarter worth about $304,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Reliance by 9.0% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 47,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,645,000 after buying an additional 3,901 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Reliance by 6.3% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,700,000 after buying an additional 1,172 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Reliance by 38.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 42,881 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,402,000 after acquiring an additional 11,887 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Reliance by 4.8% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,518 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,885,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. This represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on RS. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Reliance in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $329.17.

Reliance Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of RS stock opened at $293.30 on Wednesday. Reliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $256.98 and a 1-year high of $342.20. The company has a market cap of $15.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.00 and a beta of 0.87. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $288.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $290.22.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last issued its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $3.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.09%.

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.