ST. Nicholas Private Asset Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 53,021 RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

ST. Nicholas Private Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 53,021 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,739,000. RLI makes up approximately 7.8% of ST. Nicholas Private Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of RLI in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of RLI by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 203 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of RLI by 76.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 230 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of RLI during the third quarter worth about $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in RLI by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $171,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. 77.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other RLI news, Director Michael J. Stone sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.78, for a total value of $33,910.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 429,622 shares in the company, valued at $36,421,205.05. This represents a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes bought 5,000 shares of RLI stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders acquired 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $805,774. Insiders own 5.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on RLI. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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. Compass Point reduced their price objective 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.80.

RLI Trading Down 0.1 %

RLI stock opened at $74.59 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.92 and a beta of 0.46. 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 Corp. has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $91.14.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last issued 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is an increase from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. RLI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.00%.

RLI Company 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.