WCM Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 15,426 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,542,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp increased its position in RLI by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,393,250 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $680,866,000 after purchasing an additional 58,167 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in RLI by 5.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 908,430 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $140,817,000 after purchasing an additional 50,654 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in RLI by 0.5% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 813,719 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $126,110,000 after purchasing an additional 4,330 shares during the last quarter. Port Capital LLC boosted its stake in RLI by 0.4% during the third quarter. Port Capital LLC now owns 759,988 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $117,783,000 after buying an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Finally, Maren Capital LLC boosted its stake in RLI by 4.3% during the third quarter. Maren Capital LLC now owns 674,729 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $104,570,000 after buying an additional 27,940 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.89% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RLI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of RLI from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock 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 note on Thursday, January 23rd. Compass Point dropped their price objective on shares of RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of RLI from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $82.80.

RLI Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of RLI traded down $0.89 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $75.16. 479,211 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 578,154. The firm has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07 and a beta of 0.46. RLI Corp. has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-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's fifty day moving average price is $78.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.18.

RLI (NYSE:RLI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that RLI Corp. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from RLI's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. RLI's dividend payout ratio is 15.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other RLI news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at $9,931,206.50. The trade was a 3.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey D. Fick acquired 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $72.13 per share, with a total value of $144,260.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 142,061 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,246,859.93. This trade represents a 1.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $805,774 over the last three months. 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.