Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Cuts Stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,734 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 191 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Reliance were worth $3,429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Reliance by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 1,289 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. United Capital Management of KS Inc. grew its stake in shares of Reliance by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. United Capital Management of KS Inc. now owns 32,114 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,647,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377 shares during the period. Hilton Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Reliance by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC now owns 5,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,609,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the period. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC now owns 10,253 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,761,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in Reliance by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,333 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,167,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Reliance in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 target price on the stock. Finally, 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $329.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE RS opened at $294.41 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $288.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $290.25. The company has a market capitalization of $15.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.07 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Reliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $256.98 and a 52 week high of $342.20.

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

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.09%.

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.