Insider Selling: Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Director Sells 5,000 Shares of Stock

Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Director James Donald Hoffman sold 5,000 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.04, for a total value of $1,450,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 44,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,773,941.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

James Donald Hoffman also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, May 7th, James Donald Hoffman sold 5,000 shares of Reliance stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.77, for a total transaction of $1,463,850.00.
• On Tuesday, April 30th, James Donald Hoffman sold 5,000 shares of Reliance stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.81, for a total transaction of $1,449,050.00.
• On Tuesday, February 27th, James Donald Hoffman sold 40,000 shares of Reliance stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total value of $12,918,000.00.

Reliance Price Performance

Shares of RS stock traded up $3.20 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $295.36. 438,149 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 256,546. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 5.74 and a quick ratio of 3.21. The stock has a market cap of $16.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 0.92. Reliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $229.12 and a 52 week high of $342.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $320.32 and its 200-day moving average is $293.39.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $5.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.51 by ($0.21). Reliance had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 16.26%. The company had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.76 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.37 earnings per share. Reliance’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 19.6 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 23rd. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on RS shares. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Reliance from $355.00 to $345.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $280.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th.

Institutional Trading of Reliance

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Reliance by 378.5% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,919 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,655,000 after purchasing an additional 4,682 shares during the period. United Capital Management of KS Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Reliance by 0.8% in the third quarter. United Capital Management of KS Inc. now owns 26,668 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,993,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Reliance by 35.2% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 47,759 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,357,000 after purchasing an additional 12,423 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in shares of Reliance by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 210,218 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,125,000 after purchasing an additional 28,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank acquired a new position in shares of Reliance in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $8,173,000. Institutional investors 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.