Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. Has $896,000 Stock Holdings in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS)

Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. lessened its stake in Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) by 13.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,328 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 515 shares during the quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc.’s holdings in Reliance were worth $896,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 941 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 11,149 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,002,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,077,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,333 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,167,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Reliance by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,234 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $332,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Stock Performance

Shares of RS opened at $279.05 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.78 billion, a PE ratio of 18.07 and a beta of 0.87. Reliance, Inc. has a one year low of $256.98 and a one year high of $342.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $287.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $289.95.

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

Reliance Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. This is a positive change from Reliance’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Reliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Reliance from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Reliance in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $341.00 price target on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Reliance from $321.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $329.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Reliance news, CEO Karla R. Lewis sold 31,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.52, for a total value of $9,356,990.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,230 shares in the company, valued at $27,115,919.60. This trade represents a 25.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Reliance Company 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.