RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) Shares Sold by Bridges Investment Management Inc.

Bridges Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 73.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,811 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 4,967 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in RLI were worth $299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of RLI in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in RLI by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 203 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in RLI by 76.9% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 230 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in RLI by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $171,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in RLI by 16.3% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,221 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. 77.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at RLI

In other RLI news, Director Michael J. Stone sold 400 shares of RLI 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 sale, the director now owns 429,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,421,205.05. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey D. Fick acquired 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $72.13 per share, for a total transaction of $144,260.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 142,061 shares in the company, valued at $10,246,859.93. This represents a 1.43 % 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 corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

RLI Stock Performance

NYSE RLI opened at $76.77 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. RLI Corp. has a 52-week low of $67.53 and a 52-week high of $91.14. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $76.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.38. The firm has a market cap of $7.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.50 and a beta of 0.46.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (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 expect that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI’s payout ratio is currently 16.00%.

About RLI

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.