Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Purchases 80,451 Shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 65.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 203,046 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 80,451 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.45% of RLI worth $27,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in RLI in the 3rd quarter valued at $661,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of RLI by 28.2% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 76,124 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $10,344,000 after buying an additional 16,725 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in RLI by 1.7% during the third quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,727 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $642,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in RLI by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,082,470 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $147,097,000 after acquiring an additional 11,965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in RLI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $840,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.89% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on RLI. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Compass Point boosted their price objective on RLI from $158.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on RLI from $160.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on RLI from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, RLI presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $163.25.

RLI Trading Up 0.3 %

RLI stock traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $143.57. 136,850 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 165,231. RLI Corp. has a 1-year low of $123.04 and a 1-year high of $149.20. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $144.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $139.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a PE ratio of 19.83 and a beta of 0.37.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.26. RLI had a return on equity of 17.24% and a net margin of 20.96%. The firm had revenue of $444.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $460.05 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.63 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that RLI Corp. will post 5.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a $0.29 dividend. This is an increase from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. RLI's payout ratio is currently 14.92%.

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.