Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires New Stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 76,655 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $20,640,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Reliance at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of RS. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Reliance by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 76,131 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $22,017,000 after purchasing an additional 7,373 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Reliance during the third quarter worth about $4,600,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Reliance by 10.3% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,396 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,139,000 after buying an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Reliance by 4.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 112,065 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $32,909,000 after acquiring an additional 4,821 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Reliance by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 472,730 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $136,718,000 after acquiring an additional 77,937 shares in the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on RS shares. Wolfe Research raised Reliance from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $319.00.

Reliance Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:RS remained flat at $283.11 during trading on Thursday. 101,054 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 446,243. 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 company has a market capitalization of $14.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 0.83. The company's fifty day moving average is $283.98 and its 200-day moving average is $289.53. Reliance, Inc. has a 12 month low of $250.07 and a 12 month high of $326.87.

Reliance (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $3.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.66 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.44 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. As a group, research analysts predict that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Reliance's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Reliance's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 owns 90,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. This trade represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company's stock.

Reliance 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.