StockNews.com Downgrades RLI (NYSE:RLI) to Sell

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a note issued to investors on Monday.

RLI has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Compass Point lowered RLI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered RLI from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, RLI presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $78.60.

RLI Price Performance

RLI stock traded up $0.92 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $73.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 419,643 shares, compared to its average volume of 360,658. RLI has a twelve month low of $68.50 and a twelve month high of $91.15. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $76.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.73 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.34 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.04. RLI had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. The company had revenue of $36.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $442.20 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. RLI's revenue for the quarter was down 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that RLI will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available 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 stock was sold at an average price of $74.89, for a total value of $214,484.96. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,312 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,745,835.68. This trade represents 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On RLI

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of RLI by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,608,243 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $759,577,000 after purchasing an additional 41,884 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its stake in shares of RLI by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,331,526 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $219,475,000 after purchasing an additional 19,695 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of RLI by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,024,518 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $168,907,000 after purchasing an additional 116,088 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of RLI by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 941,185 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $155,136,000 after purchasing an additional 7,609 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Port Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of RLI by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Port Capital LLC now owns 766,668 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $126,370,000 after acquiring an additional 6,680 shares in the last quarter. 77.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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