Sciencast Management LP Buys Shares of 6,075 RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Sciencast Management LP bought a new stake in shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,512,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its stake in RenaissanceRe by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 13,749 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,421,000 after acquiring an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its position in RenaissanceRe by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 25,706 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,396,000 after purchasing an additional 994 shares during the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its position in RenaissanceRe by 35.2% during the fourth quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 84,798 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $21,099,000 after purchasing an additional 22,074 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new position in RenaissanceRe during the fourth quarter valued at $299,000. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in RenaissanceRe during the fourth quarter valued at $3,039,000. 99.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

RenaissanceRe Trading Up 0.4 %

RNR stock opened at $236.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.66 billion, a PE ratio of 6.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.38. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a 12 month low of $208.98 and a 12 month high of $300.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $241.01 and its 200 day moving average is $257.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last posted 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 EPS for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on RNR. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $288.00 to $277.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company 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 for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $318.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of RenaissanceRe from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $284.00 to $234.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $279.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at RenaissanceRe

In other RenaissanceRe news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 79,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,178,270.72. This trade represents a 1.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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.