California Public Employees Retirement System Increases Stock Holdings in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 202,696 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.22% of RLI worth $33,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in RLI during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of RLI by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 203 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of RLI by 76.9% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 230 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of RLI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in RLI by 47.0% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 497 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. 77.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

RLI Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of RLI stock opened at $80.79 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.57 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.52. RLI Corp. has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $91.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.64). RLI had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. As a group, analysts anticipate that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI’s dividend payout ratio is 16.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on RLI. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $61.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Compass Point reduced their price objective on RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other RLI news, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.89, for a total value of $214,484.96. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,312 shares in the company, valued at $1,745,835.68. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffrey D. Fick purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $72.13 per share, with a total value of $144,260.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 142,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,246,859.93. The trade was a 1.43 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774 in the last three months. 4.91% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

RLI Profile

RLI Corp., an insurance holding company, underwrites property and casualty insurance. Its Casualty segment provides commercial and personal coverage products; and general liability products, such as coverage for third-party liability of commercial insureds, including manufacturers, contractors, apartments, and mercantile.