RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (RNR) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.40 on March 31st

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.40 per share by the insurance provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a 2.6% increase from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39.

RenaissanceRe has increased its dividend by an average of 2.7% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 30 years. RenaissanceRe has a dividend payout ratio of 4.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect RenaissanceRe to earn $38.87 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 4.1%.

RenaissanceRe Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RNR opened at $239.53 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $242.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $257.97. RenaissanceRe has a 12 month low of $208.98 and a 12 month high of $300.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.38.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.94 by $1.12. RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 15.99% and a return on equity of 23.41%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that RenaissanceRe will post 26.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $318.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $245.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays downgraded shares of RenaissanceRe from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $284.00 to $234.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $288.00 to $277.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, RenaissanceRe has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $279.90.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.16, for a total transaction of $254,160.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 79,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,178,270.72. The trade was a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.