Barclays PLC Cuts Holdings in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Barclays PLC reduced its holdings in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 24.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,539 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 5,860 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in RLI were worth $2,871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in RLI by 620.0% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in RLI in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of RLI by 76.9% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 230 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of RLI during the third quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position in RLI by 16.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,221 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. 77.89% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of RLI from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target 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, Compass Point dropped their target price on shares of RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jeffrey D. Fick purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were purchased 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 $10,246,859.93. The trade was a 1.43 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael J. Stone sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.78, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $805,774 in the last three months. 5.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

RLI Stock Performance

Shares of RLI stock opened at $75.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.18 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $79.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.22. RLI Corp. has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $91.14.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that RLI Corp. will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

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.