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

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 95.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,996,643 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,388,400 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.80% of RLI worth $722,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of RLI by 100.0% in the 1st 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 during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of RLI by 99.6% in the 1st 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 during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of RLI by 105.5% in the 1st quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 253,074 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $20,329,000 after purchasing an additional 129,901 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of RLI by 100.0% in the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of RLI by 100.0% in the 1st 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 during the period. 77.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jennifer L. Klobnak acquired 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $69.15 per share, with a total value of $207,450.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer directly 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RLI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Compass Point cut RLI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised RLI from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, RLI has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $78.60.

RLI Price Performance

Shares of RLI traded down $0.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $66.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 418,424 shares, compared to its average volume of 814,913. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.11 and a beta of 0.66. RLI Corp. has a 1-year low of $65.14 and a 1-year high of $91.14.

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

RLI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. RLI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.34%.

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.