RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) Shares Bought by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 34.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,613 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,320 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in RLI were worth $6,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Creative Planning raised its position in 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 buying an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in RLI during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in 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 buying an additional 1,250 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in 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 buying an additional 2,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. raised its position in 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 buying an additional 3,835 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $71.35 per share, for a total transaction of $356,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,931,206.50. The trade was a 3.73 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David B. Duclos acquired 2,000 shares of RLI stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $72.50 per share, for a total transaction of $145,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 7,215 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 purchased 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774. 5.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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. 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. 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. 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, RLI presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.80.

RLI Price Performance

NYSE:RLI opened at $75.16 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $78.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.24. The firm has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.07 and a beta of 0.46. RLI Corp. has a 52-week low of $67.53 and a 52-week high of $91.14. 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 (NYSE:RLI) last issued 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that RLI Corp. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a positive change from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. RLI’s payout ratio is 15.49%.

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.