Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE:RS – Get Rating) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 28, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 27 will receive a dividend of 0.875 per share from the industrial products company on Friday, June 10. This represents an annualized dividend of $3.50 and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 26.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum has increased its dividend by an average of 11.2% per year over the past three years and has increased its dividend annually for the past 13 consecutive years. Reliance Steel & Aluminum has a dividend payout ratio of 19.5%, which means its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Reliance Steel & Aluminum to earn $19.92 per share next year, meaning the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.50 annual dividend with a expected future payout ratio of 17.6%.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum shares opened at $203.32 on Friday. Reliance Steel & Aluminum has a 52-week low of $135.46 and a 52-week high of $204.93. The company’s fifty-day simple moving average is $187.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $168.40. The company has a market capitalization of $12.74 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 3.91 and a leverage ratio of 0.27.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE:RS – Get Rating) last reported quarterly results on Thursday, April 28. The industrial products company reported EPS of $8.42 for the quarter, beating Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $7.14 from $1.28. Reliance Steel & Aluminum achieved a return on equity of 24.80% and a net margin of 10.03%. The company posted revenue of $4.49 billion for the quarter, versus analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. In the same quarter a year earlier, the company posted EPS of $4.10. The company’s quarterly revenue increased 58.0% year over year. As a group, stock analysts expect Reliance Steel & Aluminum to post earnings per share of 24.74 for the current year.

RS has been the subject of several research reports. BNP Paribas raised Reliance Steel & Aluminum from a “neutral” rating to an “outperforming” rating in a research note on Thursday 14 April. Citigroup raised its target price on Reliance Steel & Aluminum from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Friday. Exane BNP Paribas raised Reliance Steel & Aluminum from a “neutral” rating to an “outperforming” rating in a research report on Thursday 14 April. StockNews.com upgraded Reliance Steel & Aluminum from a “buy” rating to a “strong buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Reliance Steel & Aluminum from a “market performer” rating to an “outperformer” rating and set a price target of $226.00 on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts gave the stock a hold rating, nine gave the company a buy rating and one gave the company a high buy rating. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus buy rating and a consensus target price of $191.75.

In related news, Vice Chairman Stephen Paul Koch sold 24,474 shares of the company in a trade that took place on Monday, February 28. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.59, for a total transaction of $4,517,655.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Additionally, CEO James Donald Hoffman sold 10,000 shares of the company in a trade that took place on Wednesday, April 6. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.59, for a total value of $1,785,900.00. As a result of the transaction, the CEO now owns 152,738 shares of the company, valued at approximately $27,277,479.42. The disclosure of this sale can be found here. During the last quarter, insiders sold 125,634 shares of the company worth $22,319,957. Insiders of the company own 3.43% of the shares of the company.

Large investors have recently increased or reduced their stakes in the stock. Colony Group LLC increased its position in Reliance Steel & Aluminum by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Colony Group LLC now owns 7,261 shares of the industrial products company worth $1,178,000 after acquiring 362 additional shares during the period. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY increased its position in Reliance Steel & Aluminum by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 11,203 shares of the industrial products company worth $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares during the period. Vident Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in Reliance Steel & Aluminum by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Vident Investment Advisory LLC now owns 14,390 shares of the industrial products company worth $2,333,000 after acquiring an additional 879 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP acquired a new stake in Reliance Steel & Aluminum during Q4 worth approximately $268,000. Finally, Parametric Portfolio Associates LLC increased its position in Reliance Steel & Aluminum by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Parametric Portfolio Associates LLC now owns 321,369 shares of the industrial products company worth $52,133,000 after acquiring 2,333 additional shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.59% of the company’s shares.

About Reliance Steel and Aluminum (Get a rating)

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co operates as a diversified metal solutions provider and metal service center company in the United States, Canada and internationally. The company distributes a range of approximately 100,000 metal products including alloys, aluminum, brass, copper, carbon steel, stainless steel, titanium and specialty steel products ; and provides metal processing services to general manufacturing, non-residential construction, transportation, aerospace, energy, electronics and semiconductor manufacturing, and heavy industries.

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