RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) Shares Bought by Whittier Trust Co.

Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 90,816 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,236 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in RLI were worth $14,969,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of RLI. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of RLI by 16.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,221 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of RLI by 2.6% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,723 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of RLI during the third quarter valued at $203,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of RLI by 39.8% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 8,868 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,374,000 after acquiring an additional 2,526 shares during the period. Finally, Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in RLI by 10.7% in the third quarter. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. now owns 264,288 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $40,959,000 after purchasing an additional 25,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Compass Point cut 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 cut 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. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.80.

RLI Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of 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. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.34. RLI Corp. has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $91.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.34.

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

RLI Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other RLI news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes purchased 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,190 shares in the company, valued at $9,931,206.50. This trade represents a 3.73 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,745,835.68. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774. Insiders own 5.09% of the company’s stock.

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.