RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $82.80.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Compass Point reduced their price objective on RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective 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 RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded RLI from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling at RLI

In other RLI news, Director Michael J. Stone sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.78, for a total transaction of $33,910.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 429,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,421,205.05. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 stock was bought at an average cost of $72.13 per share, for a total transaction of $144,260.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 142,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 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 company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On RLI

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of RLI. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in RLI during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in RLI during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in RLI by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 203 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in RLI during the fourth quarter valued at about $56,000. 77.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

RLI Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:RLI opened at $75.16 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07 and a beta of 0.46. RLI has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $91.14. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.24.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.64). RLI had a net margin of 19.53% and a return on equity of 16.63%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that RLI will post 3.09 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 paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is an increase 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 of this dividend 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.