Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC Increases Position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 90.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,651 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring 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 reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of RLI by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 45,905 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $7,566,000 after purchasing an additional 2,337 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in RLI by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 470,224 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $77,507,000 after buying an additional 57,918 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in RLI during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $108,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of RLI by 319.0% in the 4th quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 4,190 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $691,000 after acquiring an additional 3,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boothbay Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of RLI in the fourth quarter worth $293,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.89% of the company's stock.

RLI Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:RLI opened at $74.53 on Monday. The business's 50 day moving average price is $76.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.16. RLI Corp. has a 1 year low of $68.50 and a 1 year high of $91.15. 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 has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

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

RLI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. 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 0.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. RLI's payout ratio is 19.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at RLI

In other news, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.89, for a total value of $214,484.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,312 shares in the company, valued at $1,745,835.68. This represents a 10.94 % 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 Jordan W. Graham sold 1,500 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 12,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $961,093.58. This represents a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.16% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.

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