Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 110.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 251,043 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 131,622 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.27% of RLI worth $20,166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of RLI. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of RLI by 100.0% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 19,526 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 9,763 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of RLI by 99.6% in the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 112,616 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $9,046,000 after purchasing an additional 56,208 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of RLI by 100.0% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 372 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional bought a new position in shares of RLI in the first quarter worth approximately $281,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in RLI by 70.0% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,019 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $724,000 after acquiring an additional 3,714 shares during the last quarter. 77.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

RLI Price Performance

NYSE RLI opened at $71.21 on Thursday. RLI Corp. has a one year low of $68.50 and a one year high of $91.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $73.76 and a 200 day moving average of $75.72. The company has a market capitalization of $6.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.42 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.35.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $36.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $442.20 million. RLI had a return on equity of 16.26% and a net margin of 16.22%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This is a boost from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. RLI's payout ratio is presently 21.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on RLI. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of RLI from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Compass Point lowered RLI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.

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