RLI Corp. (RLI) - What Are Investment Firms Saying About This Stock?

Key Points

• Analysts are broadly cautious on RLI: Six brokerages give the stock an average “Reduce” rating, with two sells, three holds and one buy. The average 12-month price target is $63.20.
• RLI reported quarterly earnings of $0.83 per share, beating estimates by $0.11, while revenue rose 15.2% year over year to $575.57 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share, equivalent to an annualized $0.72 payout and a 1.3% yield; institutional investors own approximately 77.9% of outstanding shares.

Shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Reduce" from the six brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $63.20.

RLI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded RLI from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of RLI in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. UBS Group set a $74.00 target price on RLI in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered RLI from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $53.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded RLI from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Friday, August 28th.

RLI Trading Down 0.9%

RLI stock opened at $55.77 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.72 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $61.01 and a 200-day moving average of $57.73. RLI has a 52 week low of $47.26 and a 52 week high of $67.12.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $575.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $568.70 million. RLI had a net margin of 22.22% and a return on equity of 17.61%. The company's revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that RLI will post 2.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 31st were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 31st. RLI's payout ratio is currently 15.13%.

Institutional Trading of RLI

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of RLI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $492,175,000. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its holdings in RLI by 40.7% in the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,631,273 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $214,499,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051,318 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in RLI by 1.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,920,823 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $109,567,000 after acquiring an additional 21,299 shares during the period. Maren Capital LLC boosted its stake in RLI by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Maren Capital LLC now owns 1,701,167 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $108,841,000 after acquiring an additional 11,853 shares during the period. Finally, Port Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of RLI during the second quarter valued at approximately $79,499,000. 77.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

RLI Company Profile

RLI Corp. is a specialty insurance company that underwrites a broad range of property and casualty insurance products for individuals, businesses and organizations. Its offerings include commercial casualty coverage, property insurance, surety bonds, transportation-related insurance, professional liability and personal umbrella policies.

The company serves specialty markets that may be underserved by standard insurance providers. RLI distributes its products through independent agents and brokers, with business conducted primarily throughout the United States and coverage available across many industries, professions and geographic regions.

RLI was founded in 1965 as Replacement Lens, Inc, initially providing replacement coverage for automobile windshield lenses before expanding into specialty insurance.

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