First Trust Advisors LP Sells 17,473 Shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its position in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 31.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RLI. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of RLI by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 203 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of RLI by 2.3% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,545 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in shares of RLI by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,827 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of RLI by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,633 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in RLI by 47.0% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 497 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. 77.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

RLI Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of RLI traded up $1.32 on Friday, reaching $74.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 362,947 shares, compared to its average volume of 363,810. RLI Corp. has a twelve month low of $68.50 and a twelve month high of $91.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.84 billion, a PE ratio of 19.90 and a beta of 0.49. 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 fifty day moving average of $76.33 and a 200-day moving average of $79.23.

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

RLI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. 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%. RLI's dividend payout ratio is currently 19.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RLI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Compass Point downgraded shares of RLI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of RLI from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of 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 target price 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $78.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 value of $112,155.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,854 shares in the company, valued at $961,093.58. The trade was a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.89, for a total value of $214,484.96. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.16% of the company's stock.

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.