RLI (NYSE:RLI) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of RLI (NYSE:RLI) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on RLI. Compass Point decreased their target price on shares of RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a report on Monday. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of RLI in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, RLI has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.80.

RLI Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of RLI stock opened at $72.27 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $82.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.95. RLI has a 12-month low of $67.04 and a 12-month high of $91.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.30 and a beta of 0.47.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.64). RLI had a net margin of 19.53% and a return on equity of 16.38%. As a group, research analysts predict that RLI will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLI Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a None dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $2.145 dividend. This represents a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. RLI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes acquired 5,000 shares of RLI stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $71.35 per share, for a total transaction of $356,750.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,190 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffrey D. Fick bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $72.13 per share, with a total value of $144,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 142,061 shares in the company, valued at $10,246,859.93. This represents a 1.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 9,200 shares of company stock worth $660,774 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 5.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of RLI

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RLI. Nepsis Inc. boosted its stake in shares of RLI by 138.8% during the fourth quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 296,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,876,000 after purchasing an additional 172,370 shares in the last quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in RLI during the third quarter worth $9,931,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in RLI during the 3rd quarter valued at $9,458,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in RLI by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,393,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $680,866,000 after acquiring an additional 58,167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 50,654 shares during the period. 77.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.