RLI (RLI) Competitors

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) and RLI (NYSE:RLI) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, earnings, community ranking, media sentiment and profitability.

Is WRB or RLI a better dividend stock?

W. R. Berkley pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. RLI pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. W. R. Berkley pays out 7.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. RLI pays out 16.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. W. R. Berkley has raised its dividend for 23 consecutive years and RLI has raised its dividend for 51 consecutive years. RLI is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, WRB or RLI?

W. R. Berkley has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, RLI has a beta of 0.49, indicating that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor WRB or RLI?

In the previous week, W. R. Berkley had 16 more articles in the media than RLI. MarketBeat recorded 39 mentions for W. R. Berkley and 23 mentions for RLI. RLI's average media sentiment score of 1.15 beat W. R. Berkley's score of 1.02 indicating that RLI is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
W. R. Berkley	21 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
RLI	15 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in WRB or RLI?

W. R. Berkley received 68 more outperform votes than RLI when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 55.31% of users gave RLI an outperform vote while only 50.60% of users gave W. R. Berkley an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
W. R. Berkley	Outperform Votes 339 50.60%	Underperform Votes 331 49.40%
RLI	Outperform Votes 271 55.31%	Underperform Votes 219 44.69%

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of WRB or RLI?

68.8% of W. R. Berkley shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.9% of RLI shares are held by institutional investors. 23.0% of W. R. Berkley shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of RLI shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is WRB or RLI more profitable?

RLI has a net margin of 19.53% compared to W. R. Berkley's net margin of 12.88%. W. R. Berkley's return on equity of 20.83% beat RLI's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
W. R. Berkley	12.88%	20.83%	4.27%
RLI	19.53%	16.63%	4.76%

Do analysts recommend WRB or RLI?

W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus target price of $66.59, indicating a potential downside of 4.06%. RLI has a consensus target price of $79.80, indicating a potential upside of 2.56%. Given RLI's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe RLI is more favorable than W. R. Berkley.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
W. R. Berkley	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.23
RLI	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, WRB or RLI?

W. R. Berkley has higher revenue and earnings than RLI. W. R. Berkley is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than RLI, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
W. R. Berkley	$13.69B	1.92	$1.76B	$4.36	15.92
RLI	$1.77B	4.03	$345.78M	$3.75	20.75

Summary

RLI beats W. R. Berkley on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.