Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $5.47 Million Holdings in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 33,154 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in RLI were worth $5,465,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in RLI during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in RLI by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 203 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in RLI by 76.9% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 230 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in RLI during the fourth quarter worth about $56,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of RLI by 47.0% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 497 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

RLI Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:RLI opened at $76.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38 and a beta of 0.39. RLI Corp. has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $91.15. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $75.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last issued its 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. 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 16.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on RLI shares. Compass Point dropped their price target on RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of 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 research note on Monday, January 27th. One equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 12,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $961,093.58. This represents a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of RLI stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.89, for a total transaction of $214,484.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,312 shares in the company, valued at $1,745,835.68. The trade was a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders acquired 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $805,774. 5.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.