Wall Street brokers expect Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE: RS) to post earnings of $ 5.22 per share for the current fiscal quarter, Zacks Investment Research reports. Four analysts put Reliance Steel & Aluminum’s earnings as earnings, with the lowest EPS estimate at $ 5.15 and the highest estimate at $ 5.29. Reliance Steel & Aluminum reported earnings of $ 2.01 per share for the same quarter last year, which would indicate a positive year-over-year growth rate of 159.7%. The company is expected to release its next results on Thursday, February 17.

According to Zacks, analysts expect Reliance Steel & Aluminum to report annual profit of $ 20.48 per share for the current year, with EPS estimates ranging from $ 20.35 to $ 20.63. For the next fiscal year, analysts expect the company to report earnings of $ 15.00 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $ 13.35 to $ 19.13. Zacks’ earnings per share calculations are an average based on a survey of analysts who cover Reliance Steel & Aluminum.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE: RS) last released its quarterly results on Wednesday, October 27. The industrials company reported earnings per share of $ 6.15 for the quarter, beating analyst consensus estimates of $ 5.95 by $ 0.20. The company posted revenue of $ 3.85 billion in the quarter, compared to $ 3.75 billion expected by analysts. Reliance Steel & Aluminum had a net margin of 9.16% and a return on equity of 20.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter increased 84.5% year-over-year. In the same quarter of the previous year, the company achieved earnings per share of $ 1.87.

A number of equity research analysts have commented on RS’s shares. Seaport Global Securities began hedging shares of Reliance Steel & Aluminum in a research report on Monday, August 23. They issued a “buy” note and a target price of $ 165.00 on the stock. KeyCorp raised its price target for Reliance Steel & Aluminum shares from $ 165.00 to $ 175.00 and assigned the company an “overweight” rating in a report released on Tuesday, November 23. Wolfe Research assumed coverage of Reliance Steel & Aluminum shares in a report released on Tuesday, November 16. They issued an “underperformance” rating and a target price of $ 158.00 for the company. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Reliance Steel & Aluminum’s shares from a “strong buy” rating to a “conservation” rating and set a target price of $ 152.00 for the company. in a report on Friday, September 24. Finally, the Goldman Sachs group upgraded the shares of Reliance Steel & Aluminum from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased its target price for the share from $ 162.00 to 190, $ 00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 3. One research analyst rated the stock with a sell rating, two assigned a conservation rating, and six assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $ 172.89.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum shares traded down $ 1.55 on Wednesday, reaching $ 155.36. The company had a trading volume of 282,273 shares, compared to its average volume of 361,768. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $ 154.38 and its two-hundred-day moving average price is $ 153.43. The company has a market cap of $ 9.73 billion, a PE ratio of 8.95 and a beta of 0.98. Reliance Steel & Aluminum has a 52 week low of $ 114.26 and a 52 week high of $ 181.21. The company has a debt to equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 2.39, and a current ratio of 4.25.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 3. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 19 received a dividend of $ 0.688. This represents a dividend of $ 2.75 on an annualized basis and a return of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 18. Reliance Steel & Aluminum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.84%.

In other Reliance Steel & Aluminum news, CEO James Donald Hoffman sold 5,000 shares of the company in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 6. The stock was sold for an average price of $ 141.43, for a total trade of $ 707,150.00. The transaction was disclosed in a file with the SEC, which is available at this link. In addition, Executive Vice President William A. Smith II sold 5,598 shares of the company in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 9. The shares were sold for an average price of $ 164.93, for a total value of $ 923,278.14. Disclosure of this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.43% of the company’s shares.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently changed their holdings in SR. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Reliance Steel & Aluminum by 126.7% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 170 shares of the industrials company valued at $ 26,000 after acquiring 95 additional shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Reliance Steel & Aluminum shares during the third quarter valued at $ 26,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings of Reliance Steel & Aluminum shares by 29.4% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 321 shares of the industrials company valued at $ 46,000 after purchasing 73 additional shares in the last quarter. IndexIQ Advisors LLC increased its holdings of Reliance Steel & Aluminum shares by 62.4% during the third quarter. IndexIQ Advisors LLC now owns 328 shares of the industrial products company valued at $ 47,000 after purchasing 126 additional shares in the last quarter. Finally, MUFG Americas Holdings Corp increased its stake in Reliance Steel & Aluminum shares by 67.0% during the third quarter. MUFG Americas Holdings Corp now owns 334 shares of the industrial products company valued at $ 48,000 after purchasing 134 additional shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds hold 81.57% of the company’s shares.

About Reliance Steel and Aluminum

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co is engaged in the provision of metal processing services and the distribution of metal products. It offers products in alloy, aluminum, brass, copper, carbon steel, stainless steel, titanium and special steel. The company was founded by Thomas J. Neilan on February 3, 1939 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

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