5,533 Shares in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) Acquired by Nomura Holdings Inc.

Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,533 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $912,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in RLI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of RLI in the fourth quarter valued at about $56,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of RLI by 47.0% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 497 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in RLI during the fourth quarter worth about $108,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in RLI during the fourth quarter worth about $120,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.89% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at RLI

In other news, Director Jordan W. Graham sold 1,500 shares of RLI stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total transaction of $112,155.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,854 shares in the company, valued at $961,093.58. The trade was a 10.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 23,312 shares in the company, valued at $1,745,835.68. The trade was a 10.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

RLI Stock Performance

RLI stock traded up $0.77 during trading on Friday, hitting $74.86. 325,902 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 366,925. 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's 50-day simple moving average is $76.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.63. The company has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a PE ratio of 19.99 and a beta of 0.72. RLI Corp. has a 1 year low of $68.50 and a 1 year high of $91.15.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.04. RLI had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. The business had revenue of $36.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $442.20 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. The company's revenue was down 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect 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 will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This is an increase from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. RLI's payout ratio is presently 21.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on RLI. Compass Point downgraded shares of RLI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of RLI from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of RLI from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, RLI presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $78.60.

RLI 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.