Virtu Financial LLC Invests $849,000 in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,542 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $849,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Reliance by 187.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 285 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its position in Reliance by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,480 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $414,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. acquired a new stake in Reliance during the fourth quarter worth approximately $280,000. Camelot Portfolios LLC acquired a new stake in Reliance during the fourth quarter worth approximately $374,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in Reliance by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,094 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,501,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Reliance Stock Performance

Shares of Reliance stock opened at $287.22 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.42 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $290.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $303.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 5.02 and a quick ratio of 2.43. Reliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $237.14 and a fifty-two week high of $342.20.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The industrial products company reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.73 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.64 billion. Reliance had a return on equity of 14.73% and a net margin of 7.99%. Reliance’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.49 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Reliance, Inc. will post 18.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Reliance

In other Reliance news, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.36, for a total transaction of $1,471,800.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 34,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,020,603.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.36, for a total transaction of $1,471,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,042 shares in the company, valued at $10,020,603.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Stephen Paul Koch sold 20,421 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.38, for a total transaction of $6,031,954.98. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,230,709.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,421 shares of company stock valued at $8,967,605. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RS has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Reliance from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $262.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Reliance from $355.00 to $345.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup cut shares of Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $280.00 to $380.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Reliance from $341.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $329.40.

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.