Edge Capital Group LLC Purchases Shares of 174,473 Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Edge Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 174,473 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,979,000. Reliance comprises about 2.5% of Edge Capital Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Edge Capital Group LLC owned about 0.32% of Reliance at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Reliance by 6,311.2% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 816,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $219,841,000 after purchasing an additional 803,730 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Reliance by 53.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,685 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $195,402,000 after purchasing an additional 252,955 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of Reliance by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 296,033 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $85,616,000 after purchasing an additional 20,056 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Reliance by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 285,871 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $82,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Reliance by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 203,156 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $58,755,000 after purchasing an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Reliance Price Performance

Shares of NYSE RS opened at $301.06 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.50 and a beta of 0.90. Reliance, Inc. has a 12 month low of $256.98 and a 12 month high of $342.20. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $281.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $289.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by ($0.52). The firm had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. Analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Reliance from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Reliance in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price target for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $328.17.

Insider Activity at Reliance

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 3,892 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.90, for a total value of $1,260,618.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,569,396.30. This trade represents a 4.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Reliance

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.