Reliance (NYSE:RS) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Reliance (NYSE:RS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup cut Reliance from a buy rating to a neutral rating and increased their target price for the stock from $280.00 to $380.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Reliance from $355.00 to $345.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, February 16th.

Reliance Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:RS opened at $293.93 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.74, a quick ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Reliance has a 1-year low of $229.12 and a 1-year high of $342.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.73, a PEG ratio of 5.09 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $324.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $291.99.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $5.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.51 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.76 billion. Reliance had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 16.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.37 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Reliance will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Reliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be given a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Reliance’s payout ratio is 20.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total value of $968,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,577 shares in the company, valued at $5,030,592.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Reliance news, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total value of $12,918,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 54,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,452,863.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 15,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,030,592.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 85,996 shares of company stock valued at $27,603,878 over the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Reliance

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in Reliance during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Reliance during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in shares of Reliance in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Reliance in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Reliance in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.