Vaughan David Investments LLC IL Trims Position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Vaughan David Investments LLC IL cut its stake in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 151,713 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 7,087 shares during the period. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL’s holdings in RLI were worth $25,007,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in shares of RLI by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 7,879 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,221,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of RLI by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 5,757 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $892,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of RLI by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 203 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of RLI by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,723 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of RLI by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 11,500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,782,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. 77.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other RLI news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes acquired 5,000 shares of RLI stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $71.35 per share, with a total value of $356,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 139,190 shares in the company, valued at $9,931,206.50. This trade represents a 3.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David B. Duclos purchased 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $72.50 per share, for a total transaction of $145,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,215 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $523,087.50. This trade represents a 38.35 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774 in the last three months. 5.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

RLI Stock Up 0.5 %

RLI stock opened at $74.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.29. RLI Corp. has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $91.14. The company has a market capitalization of $6.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 0.46. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 19.53% and a return on equity of 16.63%. On average, equities research analysts predict that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders 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 is a positive change from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. RLI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RLI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. 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. According to MarketBeat, RLI presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.80.

RLI Company 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.