Teacher Retirement System of Texas Grows Holdings in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 52,759 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,666 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in RLI were worth $8,696,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of RLI. Nepsis Inc. increased its stake in RLI by 138.8% in the fourth quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 296,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,876,000 after purchasing an additional 172,370 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of RLI during the 4th quarter worth $17,854,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of RLI during the 3rd quarter worth $9,931,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of RLI during the 3rd quarter worth $9,458,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of RLI by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,393,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $680,866,000 after buying an additional 58,167 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes acquired 5,000 shares of RLI stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $71.35 per share, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 3.73 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Michael E. Angelina acquired 2,200 shares of RLI stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $72.62 per share, with a total value of $159,764.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 23,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,707,586.68. The trade was a 10.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $805,774. 5.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.80.

RLI Price Performance

Shares of RLI stock opened at $76.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $7.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.38 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $75.46 and its 200 day moving average is $79.33. RLI Corp. has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $91.15.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.64). RLI had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. Research analysts predict that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is an increase from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.