Natixis Advisors LLC Has $20.53 Million Stake in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in RLI Corp. by 96.4% in Q1, owning approximately 255,554 shares valued at $20.5 million.
• RLI recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.16 per share, reflecting a 1.0% yield and a payout ratio of 18.34%.
• RLI's shares currently have an average rating of "Hold" from analysts, with a consensus target price of $78.60, following several recent downgrades.

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 96.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 255,554 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 125,459 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.28% of RLI worth $20,529,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of RLI during the first quarter worth $132,000. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of RLI by 100.0% in the first quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,002 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 3,001 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd increased its position in shares of RLI by 882.4% in the first quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 33,884 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,722,000 after purchasing an additional 30,435 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors increased its position in shares of RLI by 100.0% in the first quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 4,910 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 2,455 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in shares of RLI by 1,219.6% in the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 22,340 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,795,000 after purchasing an additional 20,647 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.89% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at RLI

In other RLI news, COO Jennifer L. Klobnak purchased 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $69.15 per share, with a total value of $207,450.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer owned 98,450 shares in the company, valued at $6,807,817.50. This represents a 3.14% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.16% of the company's stock.

RLI Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of RLI stock traded up $0.84 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $66.73. The company had a trading volume of 593,821 shares, compared to its average volume of 843,564. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $71.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $6.13 billion, a PE ratio of 19.12 and a beta of 0.66. RLI Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $65.14 and a fifty-two week high of $91.14.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $562.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.55 million. RLI had a return on equity of 15.82% and a net margin of 17.81%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. This is a boost from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. RLI's payout ratio is presently 18.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on RLI. Compass Point cut RLI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded RLI from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock 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.