Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Sells 4,293 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lessened its position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 143,412 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 4,293 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned approximately 0.25% of Reliance worth $40,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Reliance Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of RS traded down $0.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $319.49. 223,949 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 182,393. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $324.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $290.44. Reliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $229.12 and a twelve month high of $342.20. The stock has a market cap of $18.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.13, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 3.23, a current ratio of 5.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Reliance (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $4.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.81. Reliance had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.87 EPS. Reliance's revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 19.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Reliance's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Reliance's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.46%.

Insider Activity at Reliance

In related news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 650 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.96, for a total value of $209,924.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 83,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,091,176.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.96, for a total value of $209,924.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 83,884 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,091,176.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total transaction of $968,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,577 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,030,592.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 85,996 shares of company stock worth $27,603,878. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on RS shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Reliance from $295.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Citigroup lowered shares of Reliance from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $280.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $365.67.

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.