Reliance (NYSE:RS) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Reliance (NYSE:RS) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on RS. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Reliance in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Seaport Research Partners raised their price objective on Reliance from $340.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Reliance from $390.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Bank of America lowered Reliance from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $365.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on Reliance from $378.00 to $418.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Reliance has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $378.67.

Reliance Trading Up 0.3%

RS opened at $427.86 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 4.30, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Reliance has a 12 month low of $260.31 and a 12 month high of $433.02. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $399.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $358.94.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The industrial products company reported $6.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.47 by $0.80. The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.26 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 5.65%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.43 EPS. Reliance has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 6.400-6.600 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Reliance will post 22.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.07%.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In related news, SVP William A. Smith II sold 2,353 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.21, for a total transaction of $974,636.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 19,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,033,188.74. This trade represents a 10.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 2,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.11, for a total value of $902,242.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 14,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,004,010.40. This trade represents a 13.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RS. XXEC Inc. bought a new stake in Reliance in the 2nd quarter valued at $127,493,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Reliance during the second quarter worth $2,171,081,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Reliance by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,715,764 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $784,503,000 after purchasing an additional 118,009 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Reliance by 27.5% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,247,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $631,224,000 after purchasing an additional 484,286 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Reliance by 25.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,708,756 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $479,870,000 after purchasing an additional 343,598 shares during the period. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Reliance Company Profile

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co (NYSE: RS) is a leading metals service center company that distributes and processes a broad array of metal products. The company offers cut-to-length, shearing, blanking, sawing, bending, machining and value-added services for carbon and alloy steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass, titanium and specialty metal alloys. Its products serve diverse end markets, including energy, infrastructure, general manufacturing, transportation, aerospace and defense.

Founded in 1939 in Los Angeles, Reliance Steel & Aluminum has grown through a combination of organic expansion and strategic acquisitions.