RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) Stock Holdings Cut by QSV Equity Investors LLC

QSV Equity Investors LLC cut its position in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 21.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,767 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,704 shares during the quarter. RLI accounts for 1.5% of QSV Equity Investors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. QSV Equity Investors LLC’s holdings in RLI were worth $1,610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of RLI. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in RLI in the 4th quarter valued at about $353,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in RLI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $80,476,000. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in RLI by 61.5% during the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 2,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $433,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in RLI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,939,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in RLI by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,608,243 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $759,577,000 after buying an additional 41,884 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RLI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $61.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Compass Point reduced their price objective on shares of RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, RLI has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other RLI news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $71.35 per share, with a total value 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 purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Michael E. Angelina purchased 2,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $72.62 per share, for a total transaction of $159,764.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 23,514 shares in the company, valued at $1,707,586.68. The trade was a 10.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders own 5.09% of the company’s stock.

RLI Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:RLI opened at $79.99 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $75.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $7.34 billion, a PE ratio of 21.36 and a beta of 0.39. RLI Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $91.15.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last announced 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, equities research analysts forecast that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. This is an increase from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI’s payout ratio is 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.