StockNews.com Downgrades Reliance (NYSE:RS) to Hold

Reliance (NYSE:RS) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Friday.

RS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Reliance from $300.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup cut Reliance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $280.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Reliance from $355.00 to $345.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $362.33.

Reliance Price Performance

RS opened at $290.62 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $16.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.57, a PEG ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 0.87. Reliance has a 1 year low of $229.12 and a 1 year high of $342.20. The company has a current ratio of 5.74, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $324.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $291.60.

Reliance (NYSE:RS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $5.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.51 by ($0.21). Reliance had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 16.26%. The firm had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.37 EPS. Reliance’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Reliance will post 19.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Reliance

In other news, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 40,000 shares of Reliance stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total value of $12,918,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,042 shares in the company, valued at $17,452,863.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Arthur Ajemyan sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total transaction of $968,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,577 shares in the company, valued at $5,030,592.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director James Donald Hoffman sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.95, for a total value of $12,918,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 54,042 shares in the company, valued at $17,452,863.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 85,996 shares of company stock worth $27,603,878. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Reliance

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Reliance in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Reliance in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new stake in shares of Reliance in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Reliance in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Reliance in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 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.