RLI (RLI) Competitors

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) and RLI (NYSE:RLI) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, media sentiment, profitability, community ranking, valuation, risk and institutional ownership.

Is WRB or RLI more profitable?

RLI has a net margin of 19.53% compared to W. R. Berkley's net margin of 12.88%. W. R. Berkley's return on equity of 20.83% beat RLI's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
W. R. Berkley	12.88%	20.83%	4.27%
RLI	19.53%	16.63%	4.76%

Do analysts recommend WRB or RLI?

W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus price target of $68.39, suggesting a potential downside of 5.80%. RLI has a consensus price target of $78.60, suggesting a potential upside of 5.47%. Given RLI's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe RLI is more favorable than W. R. Berkley.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
W. R. Berkley	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25
RLI	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.14

Does the media favor WRB or RLI?

In the previous week, RLI had 3 more articles in the media than W. R. Berkley. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for RLI and 20 mentions for W. R. Berkley. W. R. Berkley's average media sentiment score of 1.50 beat RLI's score of 0.75 indicating that W. R. Berkley is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
W. R. Berkley	17 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
RLI	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, WRB or RLI?

W. R. Berkley has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, RLI has a beta of 0.49, suggesting that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WRB or RLI?

W. R. Berkley received 69 more outperform votes than RLI when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 54.86% of users gave RLI an outperform vote while only 50.52% of users gave W. R. Berkley an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
W. R. Berkley	Outperform Votes 340 50.52%	Underperform Votes 333 49.48%
RLI	Outperform Votes 271 54.86%	Underperform Votes 223 45.14%

Do institutionals & insiders believe in WRB or RLI?

68.8% of W. R. Berkley shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.9% of RLI shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.0% of W. R. Berkley shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of RLI shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, WRB or RLI?

W. R. Berkley has higher revenue and earnings than RLI. W. R. Berkley is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than RLI, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
W. R. Berkley	$13.95B	1.97	$1.76B	$4.31	16.84
RLI	$1.73B	3.95	$345.78M	$3.04	24.51

Is WRB or RLI a better dividend stock?

W. R. Berkley pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. RLI pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. W. R. Berkley pays out 7.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. RLI pays out 19.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. W. R. Berkley has increased its dividend for 23 consecutive years and RLI has increased its dividend for 51 consecutive years. RLI is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

RLI beats W. R. Berkley on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.