Marshall Wace LLP Grows Position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 773.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,716 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,574 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in RLI were worth $3,085,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in RLI by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 203 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of RLI by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,545 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $704,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of RLI by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,827 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of RLI by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,633 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $269,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in RLI by 47.0% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 497 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. 77.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on RLI. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Compass Point restated a “neutral” rating and set a $76.00 price objective (down from $82.00) on shares of RLI in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, RLI has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.60.

Insider Transactions at RLI

In other RLI news, Director Jordan W. Graham sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total transaction of $112,155.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 12,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $961,093.58. This trade represents a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David B. Duclos purchased 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $72.50 per share, for a total transaction of $145,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 7,215 shares in the company, valued at $523,087.50. The trade was a 38.35 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 2.16% of the company’s stock.

RLI Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE RLI opened at $72.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.49 and a beta of 0.49. 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 Corp. has a 1 year low of $68.50 and a 1 year high of $91.15. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $76.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.37.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.04. RLI had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. The business had revenue of $36.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $442.20 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. This is an increase from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI’s dividend 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.