Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys 11,800 Shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 101.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,400 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 11,800 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System's holdings in RLI were worth $1,880,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of RLI by 40.3% during the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 164,544 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $13,218,000 after purchasing an additional 47,260 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of RLI by 94.9% during the 1st quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 42,922 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,448,000 after purchasing an additional 20,896 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of RLI by 98.0% during the 1st quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 23,659 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,901,000 after purchasing an additional 11,710 shares during the last quarter. Laurus Global Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of RLI by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Laurus Global Equity Management Inc. now owns 20,560 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 10,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in RLI by 102.1% in the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 9,922 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $797,000 after acquiring an additional 5,013 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.89% of the company's stock.

RLI Price Performance

NYSE:RLI traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $70.12. 263,319 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 393,303. The company has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.07 and a beta of 0.67. RLI Corp. has a 12 month low of $69.16 and a 12 month high of $91.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $73.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.28.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $442.20 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. The company's revenue was down 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. This is an increase from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.