Citigroup Inc. Raises Position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Key Points

• Citigroup Inc. has increased its stake in Reliance, Inc. by 61.0% in the first quarter, now owning 86,728 shares valued at approximately $25 million.
• Reliance, Inc. reported earnings of $4.43 per share for the last quarter, missing analyst expectations of $4.72 while achieving revenue of $3.66 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.20, with a projected annual yield of 1.7%, to be paid on August 29th to stockholders of record by August 15th.

Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) by 61.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 86,728 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 32,858 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.16% of Reliance worth $25,043,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 33,792.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 278,933 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $80,542,000 after purchasing an additional 278,110 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,382,916 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $372,364,000 after purchasing an additional 185,873 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 32.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 597,348 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $160,842,000 after purchasing an additional 147,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 633,578 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $170,598,000 after purchasing an additional 121,078 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Reliance to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Reliance has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $323.50.

Reliance Stock Performance

Reliance stock traded down $3.93 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $286.34. 291,580 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 489,098. Reliance, Inc. has a 12-month low of $250.07 and a 12-month high of $347.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 3.18. The stock has a market cap of $15.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.89. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $310.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $296.45.

Reliance (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $4.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.72 by ($0.29). Reliance had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 5.39%. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.65 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Reliance's payout ratio is presently 35.04%.

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.