Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 41,884 Shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,608,243 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 41,884 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 5.03% of RLI worth $759,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Transactions at RLI

In other RLI news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $71.35 per share, with a total value of $356,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 139,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,931,206.50. This trade represents a 3.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 23,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,745,835.68. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774 in the last quarter. 5.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

RLI Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE RLI opened at $79.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $75.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.36 and a beta of 0.39. RLI Corp. has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $91.15.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.64). RLI had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. RLI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on RLI shares. Compass Point decreased their target price on RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.80.

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.