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

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lessened its holdings in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,925 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 951 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Reliance were worth $3,738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Reliance by 78.5% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 289,758 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $82,816,000 after buying an additional 127,422 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Reliance by 27,269.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 112,213 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,453,000 after purchasing an additional 111,803 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Reliance by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 472,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $136,718,000 after purchasing an additional 77,937 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Reliance by 68.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 139,660 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $40,391,000 after buying an additional 56,933 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Reliance by 4.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,168,880 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $333,809,000 after buying an additional 53,747 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 6,332 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.18, for a total value of $2,014,715.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 9,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,941,574.10. The trade was a 40.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP William A. Smith II sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.71, for a total value of $2,091,115.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 16,849 shares in the company, valued at $5,420,491.79. This trade represents a 27.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,832 shares of company stock worth $5,595,881. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Reliance Stock Performance

NYSE:RS opened at $322.93 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.31, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $17.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.73 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $296.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $290.96. Reliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $261.77 and a twelve month high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.66 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.38 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 7.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.00 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Reliance’s payout ratio is currently 24.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on RS. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Reliance from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Reliance from $340.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $326.40.

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.