RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) Receives $78.60 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Hold" from the seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $78.60.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on RLI. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Compass Point lowered RLI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen raised RLI from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a research note on Thursday, April 24th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in RLI. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of RLI by 95.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,996,643 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $722,700,000 after buying an additional 4,388,400 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of RLI by 117.0% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 5,226,797 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $419,869,000 after buying an additional 2,817,616 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its position in RLI by 106.6% in the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 2,750,738 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $220,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,212 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. raised its position in RLI by 100.0% in the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 2,394,544 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $192,354,000 after purchasing an additional 1,197,272 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in RLI by 97.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,861,984 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $149,569,000 after purchasing an additional 920,799 shares during the period. 77.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

RLI Price Performance

RLI stock traded up $0.57 on Monday, reaching $71.84. The company had a trading volume of 600,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 379,380. RLI has a 1 year low of $68.50 and a 1 year high of $91.15. The company has a market cap of $6.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.63 and a beta of 0.70. The company's fifty day moving average is $74.61 and its 200 day moving average is $76.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.35.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 16.26% and a net margin of 16.22%. The company 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 company posted $0.95 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that RLI will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were given a $0.16 dividend. This is a positive change from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. RLI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.05%.

About RLI

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.