Van Berkom & Associates Inc. Has $86.38 Million Position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Key Points

• Van Berkom & Associates Inc. increased its stake in RLI Corp. by 104.3% in Q1, now owning over 1 million shares valued at approximately $86.4 million.
• RLI Corp. reported earnings of $0.84 per share, exceeding estimates, with a 20% year-over-year revenue growth to $562.28 million.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.16 per share, reflecting a 0.94% yield and a payout ratio of 18.34%.

Van Berkom & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 104.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,075,321 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 549,042 shares during the quarter. RLI comprises 2.8% of Van Berkom & Associates Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. owned about 1.17% of RLI worth $86,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings 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 valued at $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 9,763 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings 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 valued at $9,046,000 after purchasing an additional 56,208 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of RLI by 100.0% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 13,224 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,062,000 after purchasing an additional 6,612 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of RLI by 112.2% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 3,871 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 2,047 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.89% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Compass Point lowered RLI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded RLI from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. One equities 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.com, RLI presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $78.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jennifer L. Klobnak bought 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $69.15 per share, for a total transaction of $207,450.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,807,817.50. This represents a 3.14% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

RLI Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:RLI traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $66.44. 189,928 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 511,344. RLI Corp. has a 52-week low of $66.25 and a 52-week high of $91.14. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $72.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $6.10 billion, a PE ratio of 19.04 and a beta of 0.67.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.09. RLI had a return on equity of 15.82% and a net margin of 17.81%. The company had revenue of $562.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.55 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This is a positive change from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. RLI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.34%.

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.