EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 47.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 497 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in RLI were worth $82,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in RLI. Nepsis Inc. raised its stake in shares of RLI by 138.8% during the fourth quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 296,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,876,000 after purchasing an additional 172,370 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of RLI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $17,854,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of RLI during the third quarter valued at approximately $9,931,000. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of RLI during the third quarter valued at approximately $9,458,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of RLI by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,393,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $680,866,000 after purchasing an additional 58,167 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes purchased 5,000 shares of RLI stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $71.35 per share, with a total value of $356,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 139,190 shares in the company, valued at $9,931,206.50. The trade was a 3.73 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey D. Fick purchased 2,000 shares of RLI stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $72.13 per share, with a total value of $144,260.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 142,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,246,859.93. This trade represents a 1.43 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $805,774. 5.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RLI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Compass Point decreased their price target on shares of RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.80.

RLI Stock Performance

RLI stock opened at $76.01 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $6.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.30 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $75.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.38. RLI Corp. has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $91.15.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last released 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 return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. Research analysts expect that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is an increase from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI’s payout ratio is currently 16.00%.

About RLI

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.