Reliance (NYSE:RS) Shares Gap Down on Disappointing Earnings

Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $313.56, but opened at $295.41. Reliance shares last traded at $285.52, with a volume of 141,154 shares traded.

The industrial products company reported $5.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.51 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.76 billion. Reliance had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.37 EPS.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be given a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Reliance from $355.00 to $345.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $280.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $362.33.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.97, for a total value of $13,507,103.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,534 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,963,809.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Reliance news, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total value of $968,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,577 shares in the company, valued at $5,030,592.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.97, for a total value of $13,507,103.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 84,534 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,963,809.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 85,996 shares of company stock valued at $27,603,878. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Reliance

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of RS. AE Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Reliance during the 3rd quarter worth about $388,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Reliance by 113.0% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,706 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 905 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Reliance by 57.9% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 3,072 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $806,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Reliance by 26.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 230 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Reliance by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 28,146 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,381,000 after purchasing an additional 3,894 shares in the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Reliance Trading Down 0.6 %

The company’s 50-day moving average is $324.88 and its 200 day moving average is $291.41. The company has a quick ratio of 3.23, a current ratio of 5.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $16.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 0.87.

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.