Reliance (NYSE:RS) Downgraded by Wolfe Research to “Underperform”

Wolfe Research lowered shares of Reliance (NYSE:RS) from a peer perform rating to an underperform rating in a research report report published on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $262.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock.

RS has been the subject of several other research reports. KeyCorp cut their price target on Reliance from $341.00 to $325.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Bank of America cut their price target on Reliance from $340.00 to $335.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. StockNews.com cut Reliance from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Reliance from $355.00 to $345.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Citigroup cut Reliance from a buy rating to a neutral rating and increased their target price for the stock from $280.00 to $380.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $329.40.

Reliance Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RS opened at $304.05 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $291.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $302.30. Reliance has a twelve month low of $237.14 and a twelve month high of $342.20. The company has a market cap of $17.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.20 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 5.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The industrial products company reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.73 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. Reliance had a net margin of 7.99% and a return on equity of 14.73%. Reliance’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.49 EPS. Research analysts predict that Reliance will post 18.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Reliance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Reliance’s payout ratio is presently 20.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Stephen Paul Koch sold 20,421 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $6,031,954.98. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,230,709.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.36, for a total transaction of $1,471,800.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 34,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,020,603.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Stephen Paul Koch sold 20,421 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total value of $6,031,954.98. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,552 shares in the company, valued at $2,230,709.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,421 shares of company stock worth $11,866,855 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Reliance

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Reliance by 41.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 12,839 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,591,000 after buying an additional 3,745 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in Reliance by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 6,183 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,729,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Reliance by 187.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 285 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its position in Reliance by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,480 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $414,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Point Inc. bought a new position in Reliance in the 4th quarter valued at $280,000. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Reliance

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.