RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $82.80.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on RLI shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Compass Point lowered their price objective on shares of RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

RLI Stock Performance

NYSE:RLI opened at $74.89 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. RLI has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $91.14. The stock has a market cap of $6.86 billion, a PE ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.29.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.41 earnings per share 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%. Analysts expect that RLI will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. This is a positive change from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. RLI’s dividend payout ratio is 16.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at RLI

In other RLI news, Director Michael J. Stone sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.78, for a total value of $33,910.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 429,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,421,205.05. This represents a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David B. Duclos bought 2,000 shares of RLI stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $72.50 per share, for a total transaction of $145,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 7,215 shares in the company, valued at $523,087.50. This represents a 38.35 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774. Corporate insiders own 5.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of RLI. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of RLI by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,880,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of RLI during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of RLI by 138.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,156 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of RLI by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 73,514 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $11,393,000 after acquiring an additional 2,072 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of RLI by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 87,580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $13,573,000 after acquiring an additional 3,835 shares during the period. 77.89% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About RLI

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.