RLI (NYSE:RLI) Stock Price Down 4.4% – Here’s Why

Shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) dropped 4.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $74.43 and last traded at $74.66. Approximately 54,817 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 357,395 shares. The stock had previously closed at $78.07.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on RLI. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Compass Point cut shares of RLI from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped 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 report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.60.

RLI Stock Performance

The company 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 50 day moving average price of $76.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.37. 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 (NYSE:RLI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.04. RLI had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. The company had revenue of $36.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $442.20 million. Equities analysts expect that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.15 dividend. This is a positive change from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. 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%. RLI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.00%.

Insider Transactions at RLI

In other RLI news, Director Jordan W. Graham sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 12,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $961,093.58. This represents a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the company’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 owns 23,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,745,835.68. This trade represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of RLI

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in RLI by 99.6% in the 1st quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 112,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,046,000 after acquiring an additional 56,208 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in shares of RLI by 91.4% in the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 39,388 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,164,000 after acquiring an additional 18,808 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in RLI by 103.4% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,641 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 1,851 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in RLI by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 372 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in RLI by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 19,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 9,763 shares during the last quarter. 77.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.