Royal Bank of Canada Boosts RLI (NYSE:RLI) Price Target to $155.00

RLI (NYSE:RLI) had its price objective hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $148.00 to $155.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on RLI. JMP Securities reiterated a market perform rating on shares of RLI in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of RLI from $160.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $163.25.

RLI Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE RLI opened at $144.15 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $144.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.01. The company has a market cap of $6.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.91 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. RLI has a 12-month low of $123.04 and a 12-month high of $149.20.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $444.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $460.05 million. RLI had a net margin of 20.96% and a return on equity of 17.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that RLI will post 5.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. RLI’s payout ratio is presently 14.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in RLI by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,082,470 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $147,097,000 after purchasing an additional 11,965 shares during the period. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of RLI by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 526,679 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $71,570,000 after acquiring an additional 80,552 shares during the last quarter. Maren Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of RLI in the 4th quarter valued at about $67,149,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of RLI by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 411,787 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $54,817,000 after acquiring an additional 11,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of RLI by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 395,547 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $53,751,000 after acquiring an additional 3,562 shares during the last quarter. 77.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.