RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.15 Per Share

RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share by the insurance provider on Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is an increase from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15.

RLI has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 51 years. RLI has a dividend payout ratio of 18.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect RLI to earn $3.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.4%.

RLI Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:RLI opened at $75.91 on Wednesday. RLI has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $91.14. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $77.45 and its 200-day moving average is $79.32. The company has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.27 and a beta of 0.46.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last posted 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 return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. Equities research analysts predict that RLI will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes bought 5,000 shares of RLI stock in a transaction that occurred 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 purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,190 shares in the company, valued at $9,931,206.50. The trade was a 3.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael J. Stone sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.78, for a total value of $33,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 429,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,421,205.05. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774. 5.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One equities 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 data from MarketBeat.com, RLI has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.