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

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

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on RLI. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of RLI from $160.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. JMP Securities reissued a market perform rating on shares of RLI in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, RLI has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $163.25.

RLI Price Performance

Shares of RLI stock opened at $144.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $144.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.03. RLI has a 1 year low of $123.04 and a 1 year high of $149.20. The stock has a market cap of $6.59 billion, a PE ratio of 19.91 and a beta of 0.37.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last issued its 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. RLI had a net margin of 20.96% and a return on equity of 17.24%. The firm had revenue of $444.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $460.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that RLI will post 5.74 EPS for the current year.

RLI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. RLI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.92%.

Institutional Trading of RLI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RLI. Commerce Bank grew its position in shares of RLI by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 4,419 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $588,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in RLI by 1.7% during the third quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,727 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $642,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in RLI by 0.5% during the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 17,660 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,400,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in RLI by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,259 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $434,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in RLI by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,906 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

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.