RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays started coverage on RenaissanceRe in a report on Wednesday. They issued an equal weight rating and a $287.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group dropped their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $251.00 to $248.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $288.00 to $280.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $334.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $265.55.

RenaissanceRe Stock Down 0.6 %

RNR stock opened at $258.27 on Friday. RenaissanceRe has a 1-year low of $188.24 and a 1-year high of $261.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $234.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $228.82. The stock has a market cap of $13.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.38.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $12.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.88 by $1.53. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 27.74% and a net margin of 25.38%. Analysts expect that RenaissanceRe will post 39.01 EPS for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.45%.

Insider Activity at RenaissanceRe

In related news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,675,120. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,675,120. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Robert Qutub sold 2,500 shares of RenaissanceRe stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.56, for a total value of $561,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,598,352.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of RenaissanceRe

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of RNR. American International Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 1,829.6% in the 4th quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 1,393,546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $273,135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,321,325 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of RenaissanceRe in the 4th quarter worth $133,196,000. Fiera Capital Corp increased its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 637.3% in the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 199,166 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $39,037,000 after purchasing an additional 172,154 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,565,691 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,090,875,000 after purchasing an additional 148,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,752,016 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $646,806,000 after purchasing an additional 124,039 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.97% of the company’s stock.

About RenaissanceRe

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance and insurance products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Property, and Casualty and Specialty segments. The Property segment writes property catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance and excess of loss reinsurance to insure insurance and reinsurance companies against natural and man-made catastrophes, including hurricanes, earthquakes, typhoons, and tsunamis, as well as winter storms, freezes, floods, fires, windstorms, tornadoes, explosions, and acts of terrorism; and other property class of products, such as proportional reinsurance, property per risk, property reinsurance, binding facilities, and regional U.S.