Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Invests $2.42 Million in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 14,700 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,423,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in RLI by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,608,243 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $759,577,000 after acquiring an additional 41,884 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its holdings in RLI by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,331,526 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $219,475,000 after buying an additional 19,695 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in RLI by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,024,518 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $168,907,000 after purchasing an additional 116,088 shares during the period. Maren Capital LLC raised its holdings in RLI by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Maren Capital LLC now owns 700,603 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $115,480,000 after acquiring an additional 25,874 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in RLI by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 665,395 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $109,677,000 after buying an additional 29,704 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.89% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at RLI

In other news, Director Jordan W. Graham sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total transaction of $112,155.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,854 shares in the company, valued at $961,093.58. The trade was a 10.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at $1,745,835.68. This trade represents a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.16% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on RLI. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of RLI from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of RLI in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of RLI from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, RLI currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $78.60.

RLI Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of RLI traded down $0.84 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $73.07. The stock had a trading volume of 63,798 shares, compared to its average volume of 359,518. The company has a market cap of $6.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.52 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $76.39 and a 200 day moving average of $79.35. RLI Corp. has a 52 week low of $68.50 and a 52 week high of $91.15.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.04. RLI had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. The company had revenue of $36.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $442.20 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. RLI's dividend payout ratio is 19.74%.

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.