Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in RLI Corp. $RLI

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 26,600 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,517,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Krilogy Financial LLC purchased a new position in RLI during the first quarter worth about $250,000. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in RLI by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 14,434 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $823,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of RLI by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 11,805 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $755,000 after acquiring an additional 595 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors raised its holdings in shares of RLI by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 6,212 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Securities CORP. boosted its position in shares of RLI by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Securities CORP. now owns 3,454 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $221,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

RLI Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of RLI stock opened at $62.51 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $52.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.82. RLI Corp. has a 12-month low of $47.26 and a 12-month high of $72.12. The firm has a market cap of $5.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.60 and a beta of 0.38.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $423.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $564.47 million. RLI had a return on equity of 17.72% and a net margin of 20.81%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.92 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that RLI Corp. will post 2.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This is an increase from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. RLI’s payout ratio is currently 16.82%.

Insider Transactions at RLI

In other RLI news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes purchased 2,000 shares of RLI stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $52.00 per share, for a total transaction of $104,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 150,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,851,480. The trade was a 1.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jennifer L. Klobnak purchased 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $52.72 per share, for a total transaction of $105,440.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 104,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,499,644.96. This represents a 1.95% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders acquired 16,500 shares of company stock worth $858,955 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on RLI shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on RLI from $59.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research raised shares of RLI from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of RLI from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of RLI from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.50.

RLI Profile

RLI Corporation (NYSE:RLI) is a specialty property and casualty insurance company focused on underwriting niche risks for businesses and individuals. Headquartered in Peoria, Illinois, the company operates through a network of independent agents and brokers, offering customized coverage solutions. RLI’s approach emphasizes disciplined underwriting, targeted product development and strong customer service to maintain profitability and long-term growth.

Founded in 1965 as Replacement Lens, Inc, RLI initially provided insurance for contact lens manufacturers before shifting its focus to specialty insurance in the 1980s.