Vista Finance LLC Buys Shares of 2,091 RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Vista Finance LLC purchased a new position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,091 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $345,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of RLI by 3.4% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $601,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in RLI by 9.1% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,819 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $747,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its stake in RLI by 2.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,880,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in RLI in the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of RLI by 138.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,156 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares in the last quarter. 77.89% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on RLI shares. StockNews.com downgraded RLI from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Compass Point cut their price target 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. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.80.

RLI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RLI opened at $75.16 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.22. The stock has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07 and a beta of 0.46. 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 Corp. has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $91.14.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last posted 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 predict that RLI Corp. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. This is a positive change from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. RLI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.49%.

Insider Activity at RLI

In other news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,931,206.50. The trade was a 3.73 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael J. Stone sold 400 shares of the firm’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 sale, the director now owns 429,622 shares in the company, valued at $36,421,205.05. This trade represents a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774. 5.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.