RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) Shares Sold by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 130,095 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,328 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.14% of RLI worth $21,444,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of RLI by 2.6% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,723 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of RLI during the third quarter valued at about $203,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of RLI by 39.8% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 8,868 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,374,000 after purchasing an additional 2,526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its stake in shares of RLI by 5.3% during the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 85,199 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,205,000 after purchasing an additional 4,324 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on RLI shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Compass Point dropped their price target on shares of RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, RLI has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at RLI

In other RLI news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $71.35 per share, for a total transaction of $356,750.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,931,206.50. This trade represents a 3.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $805,774. 5.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

RLI Price Performance

Shares of RLI stock opened at $76.67 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $75.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.38. The stock has a market cap of $7.04 billion, a PE ratio of 20.47 and a beta of 0.39. RLI Corp. has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $91.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. RLI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.00%.

RLI Company 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.