Reliance (NYSE:RS) Sets New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) shares reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $255.40 and last traded at $262.74, with a volume of 995 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $264.78.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on RS shares. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Reliance presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $329.17.

Reliance Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $286.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $290.31. 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 stock has a market cap of $13.88 billion, a PE ratio of 16.98 and a beta of 0.83.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. Research analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance’s payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total value of $9,356,990.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 this link. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Reliance

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Reliance by 6,311.2% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 816,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $219,841,000 after buying an additional 803,730 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Reliance during the 4th quarter worth approximately $186,255,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Reliance by 1,127.9% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 426,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $114,971,000 after purchasing an additional 392,213 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Reliance by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,709,737 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $998,886,000 after purchasing an additional 319,576 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Reliance by 33,792.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 278,933 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $80,542,000 after buying an additional 278,110 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.