Swiss National Bank Acquires 600 Shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,900 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.09% of RLI worth $13,335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of RLI. State Street Corp increased its holdings in RLI by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,393,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $680,866,000 after buying an additional 58,167 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of RLI by 5.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 908,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $140,817,000 after purchasing an additional 50,654 shares during the last quarter. Port Capital LLC lifted its position in RLI by 0.4% during the third quarter. Port Capital LLC now owns 759,988 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $117,783,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Maren Capital LLC lifted its position in RLI by 4.3% during the third quarter. Maren Capital LLC now owns 674,729 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $104,570,000 after purchasing an additional 27,940 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in RLI by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 471,752 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,759,000 after purchasing an additional 9,131 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Compass Point dropped their target price on RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.80.

RLI Price Performance

NYSE RLI opened at $75.51 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $6.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.16 and a beta of 0.39. RLI Corp. has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $91.15. The company’s 50 day moving average is $75.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.34. 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) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.64). RLI had a net margin of 19.53% and a return on equity of 16.63%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. This is a boost from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.00%.

Insider Activity at RLI

In other news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $71.35 per share, for a total transaction of $356,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,931,206.50. This trade represents a 3.73 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael E. Angelina bought 2,200 shares of RLI stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $72.62 per share, for a total transaction of $159,764.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 23,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,707,586.68. The trade was a 10.32 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $805,774. 5.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.