RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Monday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on RNR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $267.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $218.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $257.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $262.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, RenaissanceRe has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.00.

RenaissanceRe Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE RNR opened at $275.86 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $258.42 and its 200-day moving average is $236.00. The stock has a market cap of $14.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.38. RenaissanceRe has a twelve month low of $188.24 and a twelve month high of $283.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $12.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.88 by $1.53. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 25.38% and a return on equity of 27.74%. Equities research analysts predict that RenaissanceRe will post 40.68 EPS for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3.08%.

Insider Transactions at RenaissanceRe

In other news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.00, for a total transaction of $269,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 83,044 shares in the company, valued at $22,338,836. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Robert Qutub sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.56, for a total transaction of $561,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,915 shares in the company, valued at $16,598,352.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.00, for a total transaction of $269,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 83,044 shares in the company, valued at $22,338,836. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,500 shares of company stock worth $1,109,400 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,565,691 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,090,875,000 after buying an additional 148,173 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 624,469 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $139,579,000 after buying an additional 109,851 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,282,270 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $286,028,000 after buying an additional 91,425 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,027,601 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $229,679,000 after buying an additional 86,562 shares during the period. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of RenaissanceRe during the 1st quarter worth about $10,329,000. 99.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.