Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Sells 44 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,203 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 44 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Reliance were worth $324,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of RS. Quarry LP bought a new position in Reliance in the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Reliance by 157.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Reliance in the 3rd quarter worth $78,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Reliance by 1,216.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 329 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. Finally, Providence First Trust Co bought a new position in Reliance in the 4th quarter worth $90,000. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Stock Down 0.2 %

RS opened at $282.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $286.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $290.01. Reliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $256.98 and a 52 week high of $342.20. The company has a market capitalization of $14.94 billion, a PE ratio of 18.27 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.74 by ($0.52). The business had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. Reliance had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 11.87%. Analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 in the company, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. This represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on RS. Wolfe Research raised shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Reliance in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price objective for the company. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Reliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $329.17.

Reliance Company 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.