Short Interest in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) Rises By 26.2%

Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 980,200 shares, an increase of 26.2% from the March 31st total of 776,800 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 447,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Reliance Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE RS traded up $1.48 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $296.45. 302,410 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 398,298. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.20 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 3.21. Reliance has a 1-year low of $250.07 and a 1-year high of $326.87. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $282.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $289.47.

Reliance (NYSE:RS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $3.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.66 by $0.11. Reliance had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 11.87%. The business had revenue of $3.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.44 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.30 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Reliance will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. Reliance's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total transaction of $9,356,990.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,115,919.60. This trade represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Reliance by 10.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 76,131 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $22,017,000 after acquiring an additional 7,373 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Reliance in the third quarter worth about $4,600,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Reliance by 10.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,396 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,139,000 after buying an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Reliance by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 112,065 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $32,909,000 after acquiring an additional 4,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company's stock.

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.