Jones Financial Companies Lllp Acquires 304 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 1,216.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 329 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Reliance were worth $89,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of RS. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Reliance in the third quarter worth $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Reliance by 157.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Reliance during the third quarter valued at $78,000. Providence First Trust Co bought a new stake in Reliance during the fourth quarter valued at $90,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Reliance by 41.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Price Performance

Shares of NYSE RS opened at $283.15 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $286.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $289.96. Reliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $256.98 and a 1-year high of $342.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. This is a positive change from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.09%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total value of $9,356,990.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at $27,115,919.60. This represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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