Reliance (NYSE:RS) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday following a dissappointing 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.48 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.76 billion. Reliance had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.37 earnings per share.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.10 dividend. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. This is an increase from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup cut shares of Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $280.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Reliance from $295.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $365.67.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In other news, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total transaction of $12,918,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 54,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,452,863.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total value of $12,918,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 54,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,452,863.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.97, for a total transaction of $13,507,103.62. Following the completion of 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. Insiders have sold 85,996 shares of company stock valued at $27,603,878 in the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Reliance

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in Reliance in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Reliance in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in Reliance in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Reliance in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Partnership Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Reliance in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $325.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $291.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a current ratio of 5.66. The stock has a market cap of $16.36 billion, a PE ratio of 12.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.53 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.