Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. Has $844,000 Stock Position in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI)

Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lessened its stake in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) by 18.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,120 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,174 shares during the quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in RLI were worth $844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of RLI by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,608,243 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $759,577,000 after buying an additional 41,884 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in RLI by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,393,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $680,866,000 after purchasing an additional 58,167 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of RLI by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 908,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $140,817,000 after purchasing an additional 50,654 shares in the last quarter. Port Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of RLI by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Port Capital LLC now owns 759,988 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $117,783,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maren Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of RLI by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Maren Capital LLC now owns 674,729 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $104,570,000 after buying an additional 27,940 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of RLI in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of RLI from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $95.00 to $61.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of RLI from $100.50 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of RLI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on RLI from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One investment 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 data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.80.

Insider Transactions at RLI

In other news, Director Robert P. Restrepo, Jr. sold 2,864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.89, for a total value of $214,484.96. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,745,835.68. The trade was a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey D. Fick bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $72.13 per share, with a total value of $144,260.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 142,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,246,859.93. This trade represents a 1.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 11,200 shares of company stock worth $805,774. Company insiders own 5.09% of the company’s stock.

RLI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RLI opened at $78.25 on Thursday. 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 Corp. has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $91.15. The firm has a market cap of $7.18 billion, a PE ratio of 20.89 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $75.56 and its 200-day moving average is $79.36.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 19.53% and a return on equity of 16.63%. Sell-side analysts predict that RLI Corp. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

RLI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from RLI’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. 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.