Fractal Investments LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Fractal Investments LLC lowered its stake in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 56.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the period. Fractal Investments LLC’s holdings in Reliance were worth $280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of RS. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Reliance by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,197,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $313,942,000 after acquiring an additional 12,166 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Reliance by 35.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 723,755 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $189,790,000 after purchasing an additional 189,326 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Reliance by 6.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 675,801 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $177,215,000 after purchasing an additional 37,971 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Reliance by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 536,462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $150,038,000 after purchasing an additional 35,627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Reliance by 0.5% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 324,868 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $85,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,465 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on RS shares. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Reliance from $295.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $280.00 to $380.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $365.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.97, for a total value of $13,507,103.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,534 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,963,809.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 3,000 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total value of $968,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,030,592.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.97, for a total transaction of $13,507,103.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 84,534 shares in the company, valued at $26,963,809.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 85,996 shares of company stock valued at $27,603,878 in the last ninety days. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Reliance Stock Performance

Shares of Reliance stock traded down $0.45 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $313.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 300,993 shares, compared to its average volume of 237,314. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $325.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $291.25. The firm has a market cap of $18.00 billion, a PE ratio of 13.87, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.87. Reliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $229.12 and a fifty-two week high of $342.20. The company has a current ratio of 5.66, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $4.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.81. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. Reliance had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.87 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 19.51 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.10 dividend. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Reliance’s payout ratio is presently 19.46%.

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.