T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 582,139 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 19,887 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.64% of RLI worth $95,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of RLI by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,608,243 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $759,577,000 after acquiring an additional 41,884 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in RLI by 1.5% during the fourth 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $168,907,000 after acquiring an additional 116,088 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of RLI by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 941,185 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $155,136,000 after buying an additional 7,609 shares during the period. Finally, Maren Capital LLC raised its stake in RLI by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Maren Capital LLC now owns 700,603 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $115,480,000 after buying an additional 25,874 shares during the period. 77.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at RLI

In other news, Director Jordan W. Graham sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total value of $112,155.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 12,854 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $961,093.58. The trade was a 10.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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. 2.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

RLI Stock Performance

RLI stock traded down $1.40 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $72.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 108,313 shares, compared to its average volume of 360,251. The company has a market capitalization of $6.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.40 and a beta of 0.49. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $76.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.31. RLI Corp. has a 12-month low of $68.50 and a 12-month high of $91.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.34.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $36.73 million during 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. This is a boost from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. RLI's payout ratio is presently 19.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RLI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of RLI from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Compass Point downgraded RLI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $78.60.

RLI 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.