Insider Selling: Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) CEO Sells $9,356,990.72 in Stock

Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) 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 transaction of $9,356,990.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,115,919.60. This represents a 25.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Reliance Stock Performance

Shares of RS opened at $295.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.97 billion, a PE ratio of 19.11 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 3.21. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $283.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $289.62. Reliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $256.98 and a 52 week high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. Research analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on RS. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Reliance in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 target price for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $329.17.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Reliance

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Integrated Advisors Network LLC raised its position in Reliance by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 1,181 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,429 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,193,000 after purchasing an additional 1,174 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Reliance by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,619 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in Reliance in the fourth quarter worth $3,692,000. Finally, Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in Reliance during the fourth quarter worth $334,000. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

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.