Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases New Position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 108,318 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $17,854,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.12% of RLI as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of RLI. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in RLI by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 471,752 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $77,759,000 after acquiring an additional 9,131 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in RLI in the fourth quarter worth about $728,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in RLI in the 4th quarter valued at about $840,000. Callan Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of RLI during the 4th quarter worth about $1,199,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of RLI by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 101,804 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $16,780,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.89% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on RLI. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a research report on Thursday. Compass Point reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $76.00 price target (down from $82.00) on shares of RLI in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of 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 report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised RLI from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, RLI presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $78.60.

Insider Activity

In other RLI news, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of RLI stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.89, for a total transaction of $214,484.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,312 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,745,835.68. This trade represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David B. Duclos purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $72.50 per share, for a total transaction of $145,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 7,215 shares in the company, valued at $523,087.50. This represents a 38.35 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 2.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

RLI Trading Down 3.4 %

RLI stock traded down $2.59 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $72.64. The stock had a trading volume of 163,127 shares, compared to its average volume of 358,290. RLI Corp. has a twelve month low of $68.50 and a twelve month high of $91.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.38 and a beta of 0.49. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $76.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.39.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $442.20 million. Equities analysts anticipate that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI's payout ratio is 16.00%.

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.