RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) Short Interest Update

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) was the target of a large decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,690,000 shares, a decline of 14.6% from the December 15th total of 1,980,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 479,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Insider Activity at RenaissanceRe

In other news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.16, for a total value of $254,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 79,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,178,270.72. This trade represents a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On RenaissanceRe

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RNR. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in RenaissanceRe by 29.5% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 121 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 19.8% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 272 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,073 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 40.0% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 99.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RNR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on RenaissanceRe from $310.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Barclays lowered shares of RenaissanceRe from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $284.00 to $234.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $282.00 target price (down from $304.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $364.00 to $391.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $284.00.

RenaissanceRe Price Performance

NYSE:RNR traded up $2.07 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $257.07. The company had a trading volume of 405,257 shares, compared to its average volume of 481,036. The company has a market capitalization of $13.35 billion, a PE ratio of 3.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. RenaissanceRe has a 52-week low of $203.35 and a 52-week high of $300.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $262.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $254.55.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The insurance provider reported $10.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.89 by $2.34. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.35 billion. RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 26.31% and a net margin of 28.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 52.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $8.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that RenaissanceRe will post 42.29 earnings per share for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.25%.

RenaissanceRe Company Profile

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.