Korea Investment CORP Purchases 25,300 Shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Korea Investment CORP lifted its position in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 142.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,023 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,300 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Reliance were worth $11,584,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund acquired a new position in shares of Reliance in the 4th quarter valued at $242,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Reliance in the fourth quarter worth about $5,412,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Reliance by 59.0% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 51,857 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,964,000 after purchasing an additional 19,245 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Reliance by 1,127.9% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 426,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $114,971,000 after purchasing an additional 392,213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Reliance by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,444 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $927,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the period. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Reliance Price Performance

Shares of RS stock opened at $286.34 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Reliance, Inc. has a 12 month low of $256.98 and a 12 month high of $342.20. The firm has a market cap of $15.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.55 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $289.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $290.64.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by ($0.52). Reliance had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 6.33%. The business had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. Research analysts expect that Reliance, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Reliance’s payout ratio is 31.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Reliance in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, KeyCorp upped 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Reliance currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $329.17.

Insider Activity at Reliance

In related 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 can be accessed through this link. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.