RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) Short Interest Down 14.6% in December

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of 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 volume of 479,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on RNR. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $364.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of RenaissanceRe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $229.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $310.00 to $318.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, RenaissanceRe presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $284.00.

RenaissanceRe Price Performance

NYSE:RNR opened at $257.07 on Friday. RenaissanceRe has a 52 week low of $203.35 and a 52 week high of $300.00. The firm has a market cap of $13.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $262.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $254.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.43.

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

RenaissanceRe Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.25%.

Insider Activity at RenaissanceRe

In other news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.16, for a total value of $254,160.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 79,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,178,270.72. The trade was a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On RenaissanceRe

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 51.3% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 121 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,811 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after purchasing an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,797 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $696,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,611 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $898,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. 99.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.