WINTON GROUP Ltd Invests $4.94 Million in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 29,966 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,939,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of RLI. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of RLI by 5.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 462,621 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $71,697,000 after purchasing an additional 24,819 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of RLI during the third quarter valued at approximately $478,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in shares of RLI by 0.8% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 7,879 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in RLI by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,952 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of RLI by 172.9% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 53,921 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,357,000 after purchasing an additional 34,159 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at RLI

In other RLI news, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the company’s 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 $1,745,835.68. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $71.35 per share, with a total value of $356,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,931,206.50. This represents a 3.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 5.09% of the company’s stock.

RLI Stock Up 0.3 %

RLI stock opened at $78.25 on Thursday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $75.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.36. RLI Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $91.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.89 and a beta of 0.39.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.41 EPS 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%. Analysts predict that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded 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 note on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective 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. StockNews.com raised RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.80.

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.