First Trust Advisors LP Trims Stock Position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 31.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,615 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 17,473 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in RLI were worth $6,365,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of RLI. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of RLI during the fourth quarter valued at about $80,476,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of RLI by 580.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 415,247 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $68,445,000 after buying an additional 354,219 shares during the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. raised its stake in RLI by 138.8% in the 4th quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 296,526 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $48,876,000 after acquiring an additional 172,370 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of RLI by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,024,518 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $168,907,000 after purchasing an additional 116,088 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of RLI during the fourth quarter worth about $17,854,000. 77.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at RLI

In other news, Director Jordan W. Graham sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total value of $112,155.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,854 shares in the company, valued at $961,093.58. This represents a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.89, for a total transaction of $214,484.96. Following the sale, the director now directly 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on RLI shares. Compass Point lowered shares of RLI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of RLI from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered RLI from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, RLI has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $78.60.

RLI Price Performance

NYSE RLI traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $74.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 24,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 362,834. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90 and a beta of 0.49. The company's 50-day moving average is $76.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.38. RLI Corp. has a 1-year low of $68.50 and a 1-year high of $91.15.

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

RLI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is an increase from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.74%.

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.