Trexquant Investment LP Sells 18,292 Shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Trexquant Investment LP reduced its stake in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 50.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,014 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 18,292 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in RLI were worth $2,969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of RLI. Versant Capital Management Inc grew 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 purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of RLI by 76.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 230 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of RLI by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,545 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $704,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in RLI by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,827 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in RLI by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,633 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $269,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. 77.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

RLI Stock Performance

Shares of RLI opened at $76.75 on Monday. 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 Corp. has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $91.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.49 and a beta of 0.49.

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%. Research analysts forecast that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a boost from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.80.

Insider Activity

In other RLI news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $71.35 per share, for a total transaction of $356,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,931,206.50. This represents a 3.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael E. Angelina bought 2,200 shares of RLI stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $72.62 per share, with a total value of $159,764.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 23,514 shares in the company, valued at $1,707,586.68. This trade represents a 10.32 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders purchased 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $805,774. 5.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.