Reliance (NYSE:RS) Hits New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) reached a new 52-week low on Thursday . The company traded as low as $263.67 and last traded at $263.90, with a volume of 143876 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $268.47.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on RS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Reliance in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Reliance from $340.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Reliance from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Reliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $328.83.

Reliance Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $14.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.55 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $303.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $291.84.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.66 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.38 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 7.42%. Reliance’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.00 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Reliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. Reliance’s payout ratio is 24.16%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mark V. Kaminski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.01, for a total value of $1,490,050.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 3,892 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.90, for a total value of $1,260,618.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,569,396.30. This represents a 4.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,724 shares of company stock worth $6,856,500. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Reliance

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Reliance during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Reliance during the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Reliance by 27.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 249 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Reliance by 17.9% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 270 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Reliance in the third quarter worth approximately $78,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

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.