Snyder Capital Management L P Decreases Holdings in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Snyder Capital Management L P reduced its stake in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 260,405 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 12,000 shares during the quarter. Snyder Capital Management L P owned approximately 0.28% of RLI worth $42,923,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hancock Whitney Corp bought a new position in RLI in the 4th quarter valued at $205,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in RLI in the 4th quarter valued at $676,000. Pinebridge Investments L.P. grew its stake in RLI by 42.5% in the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 16,611 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,738,000 after purchasing an additional 4,953 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of RLI during the 4th quarter worth $582,000. Finally, Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new position in shares of RLI during the 4th quarter worth $524,000. 77.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

RLI Price Performance

RLI stock traded down $1.04 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $73.03. The company had a trading volume of 154,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 360,413. 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. The company has a market capitalization of $6.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.50 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $76.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.31.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. RLI had a net margin of 19.53% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The company had revenue of $36.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $442.20 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. This is a boost from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI's dividend payout ratio is presently 19.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at RLI

In other RLI news, Director Jordan W. Graham sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total transaction of $112,155.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $961,093.58. This trade represents a 10.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the firm'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 owns 23,312 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,745,835.68. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.