Port Capital LLC Increases Position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Port Capital LLC boosted its holdings in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 766,668 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,680 shares during the quarter. RLI comprises 5.8% of Port Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Port Capital LLC owned 0.84% of RLI worth $126,370,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of RLI by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 2,297 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of RLI in the fourth quarter valued at $912,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp acquired a new position in shares of RLI during the fourth quarter valued at about $429,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in RLI in the 4th quarter valued at about $169,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in RLI by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 263,721 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $43,469,000 after purchasing an additional 25,813 shares during the last quarter. 77.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of RLI from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $61.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of RLI from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Compass Point downgraded shares of RLI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $78.60.

Insider Activity at RLI

In other RLI news, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.89, for a total value of $214,484.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,312 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,745,835.68. The trade was a 10.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jordan W. Graham sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total transaction of $112,155.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $961,093.58. This trade represents a 10.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

RLI Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of RLI stock opened at $73.70 on Thursday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $76.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. RLI Corp. has a 12-month low of $68.50 and a 12-month high of $91.15. The company has a market cap of $6.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.68 and a beta of 0.72.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.04. RLI had a net margin of 19.53% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The business had revenue of $36.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $442.20 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. RLI's revenue was down 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is an increase from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.74%.

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.

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