Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC Buys 6,473 Shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 90.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,651 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 6,473 shares during the quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC's holdings in RLI were worth $2,250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in RLI by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 203 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in RLI by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,035 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in RLI in the fourth quarter worth $208,000. Atlas Brown Inc. purchased a new stake in RLI in the fourth quarter worth $285,000. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in shares of RLI by 7.5% in the fourth 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 period. Institutional investors own 77.89% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on RLI shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of RLI from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price 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. Finally, Compass Point lowered RLI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, RLI presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $78.60.

RLI Price Performance

Shares of RLI traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $74.60. 269,543 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 363,705. The company has a market cap of $6.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.92 and a beta of 0.72. RLI Corp. has a 1 year low of $68.50 and a 1 year high of $91.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $76.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. The business had revenue of $36.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $442.20 million. RLI had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 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 yield of 0.80%. RLI's payout ratio is presently 19.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other RLI news, Director Jordan W. Graham sold 1,500 shares of RLI stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was 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 owns 12,854 shares of the company's stock, valued at $961,093.58. The trade was a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.89, for a total value of $214,484.96. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.16% of the company's stock.

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.