Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 2,369 Shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Bridgewater Associates LP cut its stake in shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 51.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,261 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,369 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in RLI were worth $373,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in RLI during the 4th quarter valued at about $80,476,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of RLI by 580.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 415,247 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $68,445,000 after acquiring an additional 354,219 shares during the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of RLI by 138.8% in the 4th quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 296,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,876,000 after acquiring an additional 172,370 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of RLI by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,024,518 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $168,907,000 after acquiring an additional 116,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in RLI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $17,854,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

RLI Price Performance

Shares of RLI stock opened at $77.76 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $76.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.44. The stock has a market cap of $7.14 billion, a PE ratio of 20.76 and a beta of 0.49. RLI Corp. has a 52-week low of $68.50 and a 52-week high of $91.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.34.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last announced 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%. As a group, 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 was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. This is a boost from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. RLI’s payout ratio is currently 16.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at RLI

In other RLI news, CEO Craig W. Kliethermes purchased 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $71.35 per share, with a total value of $356,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael E. Angelina acquired 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $72.62 per share, with a total value of $159,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,514 shares in the company, valued at $1,707,586.68. This trade represents a 10.32 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $805,774. Corporate insiders own 2.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $61.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Compass Point dropped their target price on shares of RLI from $185.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.80.

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.