Short Interest in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) Expands By 28.7%

RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) was the target of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,480,000 shares, a growth of 28.7% from the February 13th total of 1,150,000 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 476,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on RLI shares. Compass Point dropped their price objective on RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at RLI

In related news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $71.35 per share, for a total transaction of $356,750.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 139,190 shares in the company, valued at $9,931,206.50. This trade represents a 3.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of RLI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.89, for a total value of $214,484.96. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders bought 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774 in the last quarter. 5.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of RLI in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of RLI by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 203 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of RLI by 76.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 230 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in RLI during the 4th quarter valued at about $56,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in RLI by 47.0% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 497 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. 77.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

RLI Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE RLI traded down $0.61 on Tuesday, reaching $76.01. 288,882 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 501,873. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $75.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.38. The company has a market cap of $6.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.30 and a beta of 0.39. RLI has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $91.14.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.41 earnings per share 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 16.63%. As a group, research analysts forecast that RLI will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. This is a positive change from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. RLI’s payout ratio is presently 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.