Earnings Wrap-up: Renasant, RLI Corp., WesBanco, More

All three index futures are in the green today as the latest earnings results from America’s leading companies have mostly come in ahead of expectations. Among the stocks that reported earnings recently are Pzena Investment Management, Inc. (NYSE:PZN), Renasant Corp. (NASDAQ:RNST), RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI), WesBanco Inc (NASDAQ:WSBC), and Wintrust Financial Corp (NASDAQ:WTFC). In this article we’ll take a closer look at the earnings reports of each company and see how the elite funds in our database are positioned in them.

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Pzena Tops Expectations

Pzena Investment Management, Inc. (NYSE:PZN) earned $0.10 per share on revenue of $26.4 million for the second quarter of 2016, beating estimates by $0.01 per share and $0.4 million respectively. Average assets under management for the time period was $26.1 billion, down by 7.8% year-over-year. The weighted average fee was 0.405%, down from the 0.418% mark from a year earlier. Shares of the company are down by around 4% year-to-date. Four top funds owned shares of Pzena Investment Management, Inc. (NYSE:PZN) at the end of the first quarter, unchanged quarter-over-quarter.

Renasant Reports Earnings

Renasant Corp. (NASDAQ:RNST) beat both top and bottom-line estimates with its latest quarterly results, pulling in second quarter EPS of $0.59 on revenue of $112.74 million. Analysts were expecting $0.07 per share and $0.69 million less, respectively. Average return on asset for the time period was 1.08%, up from 1.06% year-over-year. Average return on equity fell to 8.21% from 8.42% in the year earlier. Book value per common share was $26.71, a respectable increase from $23.10 a year ago. Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies was a top shareholder of Renasant Corp. (NASDAQ:RNST) at the end of March, owning 815,339 shares.

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On the next page, we take a closer look at the earnings reports of RLI Corp, WesBanco, and Wintrust Financial.

RLI Turns in a Solid Quarter

Insurance company RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) earned $0.61 per share for the second quarter, beating the bottom-line estimate by $0.01 per share. The company’s net written premiums for the period came in at $214.85 million, exceeding the consensus by $6.65 million. RLI’s combined ratio was 85.5 and the insurer’s book value rose by 12% from the end of 2015 inclusive of dividends to $20.87 per share. Of the 766 active funds that we track, eight of them owned an aggregate of $117.93 million in RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) positions on March 31, which accounted for 4.00% of the float.

WesBanco Reports Mixed Results

WesBanco Inc (NASDAQ:WSBC) reported net income of $0.59 per share on net interest income of $59.77 million for the second quarter, beating the consensus net income estimate by $0.03 per share but missing the net interest income estimates by $1.14 million. Management continues to focus on credit quality and cost control while aiming for long-term quality growth in the lower-for-longer interest rate environment. The bank remains on track to close its recently announced merger with Your Community Bankshares, Inc. in either the third or fourth quarter of 2016. As per our database, six funds owned shares of WesBanco Inc (NASDAQ:WSBC) at the end of March, up by one quarter-over-quarter.

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Wintrust Earnings Ahead of Estimates 

Wintrust Financial Corp (NASDAQ:WTFC)‘s second quarter earnings came in at $0.90 per share, beating analyst estimates by $0.04 per share. The company’s revenue for the time period rose by 11.2% year-over-year to $260.1 million, exceeding the consensus expectations by $13.66 million. Revenue grew due to total assets rising by 16% on an annualized basis to around $24.4 billion compared to the first quarter of 2016. Book value per common share was $45.96, up from $42.24 a year ago. The number of funds in our system with holdings in Wintrust Financial Corp (NASDAQ:WTFC) fell by two quarter-over-quarter to 12 as of the end of March.

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