First Trust Advisors LP Reduces Holdings in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

First Trust Advisors LP cut its position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 31.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 38,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 17,473 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in RLI were worth $6,365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in RLI in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,476,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of RLI by 580.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 415,247 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $68,445,000 after acquiring an additional 354,219 shares in the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. boosted its holdings in RLI by 138.8% in the fourth quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 296,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,876,000 after purchasing an additional 172,370 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in RLI by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,024,518 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $168,907,000 after purchasing an additional 116,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of RLI during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $17,854,000. 77.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on RLI. StockNews.com lowered shares of RLI from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Compass Point lowered RLI from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $61.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, RLI presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.60.

Insider Activity at RLI

In other news, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.89, for a total value of $214,484.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,745,835.68. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jordan W. Graham sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total transaction of $112,155.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 12,854 shares in the company, valued at $961,093.58. This represents a 10.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

RLI Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:RLI opened at $74.06 on Wednesday. RLI Corp. has a 12-month low of $68.50 and a 12-month 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. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.78 and a beta of 0.49.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.04. RLI had a net margin of 19.53% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The business had revenue of $36.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $442.20 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. This is a positive change from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. RLI’s dividend payout ratio is 19.74%.

RLI Company 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.