Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies RLI's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions

• A total of 13 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership

• Ownership research along with analyst forecasts data help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

If you want to know who really controls RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry.  The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 80% to be precise, is institutions.   That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Since institutional have access to huge amounts of capital, their market moves tend to receive a lot of scrutiny by retail or individual investors.  Hence, having a considerable amount of institutional money invested in a company is often regarded as a desirable trait.  

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of RLI.

NYSE:RLI Ownership Breakdown June 4th 2024

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About RLI?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

We can see that RLI does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock.  This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does.  When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see RLI's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

NYSE:RLI Earnings and Revenue Growth June 4th 2024

Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences.    RLI is not owned by hedge funds.      The Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 9.9% of shares outstanding.        Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 9.6% and 7.8%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.  

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 13 have the combined ownership of 51% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.  

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance.   Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.  

Insider Ownership Of RLI

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count.  Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

We can report that insiders do own shares in RLI Corp..   The insiders have a meaningful stake worth US$255m. Most would see this as a real positive.  It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.  

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 16% stake in RLI.   While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.    To that end, you should learn about the   2 warning signs we've spotted with RLI (including 1 which is concerning) .  

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.