ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 15,695 Shares of RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

ProShare Advisors LLC lessened its position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 211,252 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 15,695 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC owned 0.23% of RLI worth $34,821,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in RLI by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 2,297 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in RLI in the fourth quarter valued at $912,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new position in RLI in the fourth quarter valued at $429,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in RLI in the fourth quarter valued at $169,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in RLI by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 263,721 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $43,469,000 after acquiring an additional 25,813 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

RLI Stock Up 1.5%

NYSE RLI opened at $74.80 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 stock has a market capitalization of $6.86 billion, a PE ratio of 19.97 and a beta of 0.72. RLI Corp. has a 1 year low of $68.50 and a 1 year high of $91.15. The business’s 50-day moving average is $76.05 and its 200 day moving average is $78.84.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $36.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $442.20 million. RLI had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 19.53%. RLI’s quarterly revenue was down 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is a boost from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. RLI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RLI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on RLI from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. 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. Finally, Compass Point cut RLI from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other RLI news, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of RLI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.89, for a total transaction of $214,484.96. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,745,835.68. The trade was a 10.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jordan W. Graham sold 1,500 shares of RLI stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total value of $112,155.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $961,093.58. The trade was a 10.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

RLI Company 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.