Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Shares Purchased by Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 23.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,077 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Reliance were worth $301,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RS. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Reliance in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new stake in Reliance during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Reliance during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Reliance during the first quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its stake in Reliance by 183.6% during the third quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 207 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Reliance Stock Down 0.2 %

Reliance stock opened at $322.37 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $323.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $289.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.26, a P/E/G ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a current ratio of 5.66. Reliance, Inc. has a one year low of $229.12 and a one year high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $4.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.81. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. This is an increase from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,963,809.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.96, for a total transaction of $209,924.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 83,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,091,176.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,963,809.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 85,996 shares of company stock valued at $27,603,878 over the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RS has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Reliance from $295.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $280.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $365.67.

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.