Swiss National Bank Grows Stock Holdings in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,900 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in RLI were worth $13,335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in RLI. State Street Corp grew its position in RLI by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,393,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $680,866,000 after acquiring an additional 58,167 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of RLI by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 908,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $140,817,000 after purchasing an additional 50,654 shares during the last quarter. Port Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of RLI by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Port Capital LLC now owns 759,988 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $117,783,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Maren Capital LLC increased its position in shares of RLI by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Maren Capital LLC now owns 674,729 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $104,570,000 after purchasing an additional 27,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in RLI by 2.0% during 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 buying an additional 9,131 shares during the period. 77.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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 note on Friday, January 24th. Compass Point cut their target price on RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com raised RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.80.

RLI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:RLI opened at $75.51 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $6.93 billion, a PE ratio of 20.16 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.34. RLI Corp. has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $91.15.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. As a group, equities analysts predict that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. RLI’s payout ratio is presently 16.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other RLI news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $71.35 per share, with a total value of $356,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 139,190 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey D. Fick acquired 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $72.13 per share, for a total transaction of $144,260.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 142,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,246,859.93. This represents a 1.43 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $805,774 over the last three months. 5.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.