Everhart Financial Group Inc. Acquires 148 Shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Everhart Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,633 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Everhart Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in RLI were worth $269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of RLI by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 7,879 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. raised its position in RLI by 1.2% during the third quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 5,757 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $892,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in RLI by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 203 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in RLI by 2.6% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,723 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of RLI by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 11,500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,782,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RLI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Compass Point reduced their price target on RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of RLI from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at RLI

In other news, insider Jeffrey D. Fick purchased 2,000 shares of the business’s 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 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michael J. Stone sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.78, for a total value of $33,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 429,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,421,205.05. This represents a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have purchased 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 5.09% of the company’s stock.

RLI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:RLI opened at $75.16 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.24. 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 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $91.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07 and a beta of 0.46.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that RLI Corp. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is an increase from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. RLI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.49%.

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.