1,639 Shares in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) Bought by Sciencast Management LP

Sciencast Management LP bought a new position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,639 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RLI. Nepsis Inc. raised its stake in RLI by 138.8% in the 4th quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 296,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,876,000 after acquiring an additional 172,370 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of RLI during the 4th quarter valued at about $17,854,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of RLI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $9,931,000. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of RLI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $9,458,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of RLI by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,393,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $680,866,000 after buying an additional 58,167 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at RLI

In other RLI news, insider Jeffrey D. Fick acquired 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $72.13 per share, for a total transaction of $144,260.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 142,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,246,859.93. The trade was a 1.43 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the director now owns 23,312 shares in the company, valued at $1,745,835.68. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774. Insiders own 5.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on RLI. 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. StockNews.com upgraded RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.80.

RLI Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of RLI stock opened at $76.31 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $7.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.38 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.35. RLI Corp. has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year 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.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. Analysts predict that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. RLI’s payout ratio is currently 16.00%.

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.