Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. Reduces Stock Position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. trimmed its stake in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 13.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 229,658 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 34,630 shares during the period. RLI comprises about 2.7% of Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. owned about 0.25% of RLI worth $37,855,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in RLI in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in RLI by 53.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake 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 worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of RLI during the 4th quarter worth about $56,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of RLI by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on RLI shares. Compass Point reduced their price objective on shares of RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com raised RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, RLI has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.80.

RLI Price Performance

Shares of RLI stock opened at $75.95 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $76.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.34. RLI Corp. has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $91.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.28 and a beta of 0.46.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.41 earnings per share 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, research 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. This is a boost 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 16.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other RLI news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes bought 5,000 shares of RLI stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were acquired 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $9,931,206.50. The trade was a 3.73 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Michael J. Stone sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.78, for a total value of $33,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 429,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,421,205.05. This represents a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774 over the last ninety days. 5.09% of the stock is owned by company 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.