Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Reduces Position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lowered its stake in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 12.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 206,699 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 28,716 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.23% of RLI worth $34,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in RLI in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in RLI by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 203 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in RLI in the fourth quarter worth approximately $56,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in RLI by 47.0% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 497 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of RLI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $120,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.89% of the company's stock.

RLI Stock Performance

Shares of RLI stock traded up $1.32 on Friday, reaching $74.53. 362,947 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 364,172. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.84 billion, a PE ratio of 19.90 and a beta of 0.49. RLI Corp. has a 1-year low of $68.50 and a 1-year high of $91.15. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $76.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.19.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.04. RLI had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. The business had revenue of $36.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $442.20 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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 Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. RLI's payout ratio is presently 19.74%.

Insider Transactions at RLI

In other RLI news, Director Jordan W. Graham sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total transaction of $112,155.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $961,093.58. The trade was a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 approximately $1,745,835.68. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.16% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on RLI shares. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Compass Point downgraded shares of RLI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded RLI from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $78.60.

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.