Ausbil Investment Management Ltd Grows Holdings in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Ausbil Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 155.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,842 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,604 shares during the period. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd's holdings in RLI were worth $871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in RLI by 147.2% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 14,917 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,459,000 after buying an additional 8,883 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of RLI by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 10,730 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,769,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. ST. Nicholas Private Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of RLI during the 4th quarter worth $8,739,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in RLI in the 4th quarter valued at about $404,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in RLI by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 20,580 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,392,000 after purchasing an additional 695 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.89% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Compass Point lowered shares of RLI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded RLI from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $78.60.

RLI Price Performance

RLI stock traded up $0.57 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $71.84. 600,061 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 379,380. RLI Corp. has a 52 week low of $68.50 and a 52 week high of $91.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $6.59 billion, a PE ratio of 23.63 and a beta of 0.70. The company's fifty day moving average is $74.50 and its 200-day moving average is $76.49.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.04. RLI had a net margin of 16.22% and a return on equity of 16.26%. The firm had revenue of $36.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $442.20 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. This is a boost from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.05%.

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.