Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Has $1.66 Million Stock Holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) by 378.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,919 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,682 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Reliance were worth $1,655,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in RS. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Reliance by 14.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,453,558 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,656,886,000 after purchasing an additional 815,429 shares during the last quarter. CI Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $82,101,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Reliance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $78,366,000. State Street Corp grew its position in Reliance by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,549,898 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $467,524,000 after purchasing an additional 359,364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Reliance by 121.1% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 515,735 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $94,560,000 after purchasing an additional 282,481 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company's stock.

Reliance Stock Down 1.6 %

RS traded down $5.22 during trading on Friday, reaching $325.53. 182,013 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 238,508. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 5.66 and a quick ratio of 3.23. Reliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $229.12 and a fifty-two week high of $342.20. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $321.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $288.07. The stock has a market cap of $18.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.83 and a beta of 0.87.

Reliance (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $4.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.81. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 9.02%. The firm's revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.87 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 19.51 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from Reliance's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Reliance's dividend payout ratio is 19.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were 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 $26,963,809.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 42,346 shares of Reliance 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,534 shares in the company, valued at $26,963,809.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total value of $968,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,577 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,030,592.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 85,996 shares of company stock valued at $27,603,878. Insiders own 0.62% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup downgraded Reliance from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $280.00 to $380.00 in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp upped their target price on Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Reliance from $295.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $365.67.

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.