HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 21,870 Shares of RLI Corp. $RLI

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in RLI Corp. by 95.7%, acquiring 21,870 shares and bringing its total holdings to $3,592,000 by the end of the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and Markel Group, also significantly boosted their positions in RLI Corp., indicating strong institutional interest.
• RLI reported an earnings per share of $0.84 for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, and the company will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share on September 19th.

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 95.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,719 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 21,870 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in RLI were worth $3,592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of RLI by 95.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,996,643 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $722,700,000 after buying an additional 4,388,400 shares during the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of RLI by 100.0% in the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 2,394,544 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $192,354,000 after acquiring an additional 1,197,272 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of RLI by 100.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,334,112 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $107,169,000 after purchasing an additional 668,717 shares in the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of RLI by 104.3% in the first quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 1,075,321 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $86,381,000 after buying an additional 549,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in RLI by 102.0% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 953,056 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $76,559,000 after buying an additional 481,304 shares during the period. 77.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded RLI from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $78.60.

RLI Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE RLI traded up $0.1550 during trading on Friday, hitting $68.5550. 320,389 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 610,004. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $69.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.50. RLI Corp. has a 12-month low of $65.14 and a 12-month high of $91.14. The firm has a market cap of $6.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.64 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $562.28 million during 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%.RLI's revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

RLI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. RLI's payout ratio is presently 18.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at RLI

In other news, COO Jennifer L. Klobnak bought 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $69.15 per share, for a total transaction of $207,450.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer owned 98,450 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,807,817.50. This trade represents a 3.14% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.16% of the company's stock.

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.