Empower Advisory Group LLC Increases Stake in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 123,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,473 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in RLI were worth $20,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of RLI during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of RLI in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of RLI by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 203 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted 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 worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in RLI in the third quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on RLI. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. 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 note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.80.

RLI Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE RLI opened at $75.16 on Tuesday. 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. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.24. The firm has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07 and a beta of 0.46.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.64). RLI had a net margin of 19.53% and a return on equity of 16.63%. Equities analysts predict that RLI Corp. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other RLI news, Director Michael J. Stone sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.78, for a total transaction of $33,910.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 429,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,421,205.05. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David B. Duclos bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $72.50 per share, with a total value of $145,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,215 shares in the company, valued at approximately $523,087.50. The trade was a 38.35 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774 over the last three months. Insiders own 5.09% of the company’s stock.

RLI 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.