Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Buys New Shares in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 1,953 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $322,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RLI. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of RLI in the fourth quarter valued at about $80,476,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of RLI by 580.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 415,247 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $68,445,000 after purchasing an additional 354,219 shares during the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. increased its position in shares of RLI by 138.8% during the 4th quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 296,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,876,000 after purchasing an additional 172,370 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of RLI by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,024,518 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $168,907,000 after purchasing an additional 116,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of RLI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $17,854,000. 77.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other RLI news, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of RLI stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 23,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,745,835.68. The trade was a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jordan W. Graham sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total value of $112,155.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $961,093.58. This trade represents a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $805,774. 2.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

RLI Stock Up 0.5 %

RLI stock opened at $77.76 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $76.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $7.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.76 and a beta of 0.49. RLI Corp. has a twelve month low of $68.05 and a twelve month high of $91.15.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last announced 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 return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. As a group, analysts expect that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI’s payout ratio is presently 16.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Compass Point lowered their price target on RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut 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. One research 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.80.

RLI 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.