Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 79,825 Shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its position in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 733,894 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 79,825 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in RLI were worth $121,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RLI. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of RLI in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of RLI by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 203 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in RLI by 76.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 230 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of RLI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in RLI by 47.0% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 497 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. 77.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on RLI. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Compass Point cut 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at RLI

In other RLI news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $71.35 per share, for a total transaction of $356,750.00. Following the acquisition, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David B. Duclos bought 2,000 shares of RLI stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $72.50 per share, for a total transaction of $145,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 7,215 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $523,087.50. This trade represents a 38.35 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.09% of the company’s stock.

RLI Price Performance

NYSE:RLI opened at $76.67 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.47 and a beta of 0.39. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.38. RLI Corp. has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $91.15.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.41 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts forecast that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.00%.

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.