RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) Coverage Initiated at Barclays

Barclays began coverage on shares of RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) in a research note published on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an equal weight rating and a $287.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on RNR. Bank of America boosted their target price on RenaissanceRe from $334.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. UBS Group reduced their target price on RenaissanceRe from $251.00 to $248.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com cut RenaissanceRe from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $257.00 to $240.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $288.00 to $280.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $265.55.

RenaissanceRe Stock Performance

NYSE:RNR opened at $258.27 on Wednesday. RenaissanceRe has a 52-week low of $188.24 and a 52-week high of $261.62. The business’s fifty day moving average is $234.13 and its 200 day moving average is $228.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market cap of $13.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.71, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.38.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $12.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.88 by $1.53. RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 27.74% and a net margin of 25.38%. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. Research analysts predict that RenaissanceRe will post 39.01 EPS for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3.45%.

Insider Activity at RenaissanceRe

In related news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,675,120. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other RenaissanceRe news, CFO Robert Qutub sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.56, for a total transaction of $561,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 73,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,598,352.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $230,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,675,120. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of RNR. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in RenaissanceRe by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 23,306 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,568,000 after purchasing an additional 3,944 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in RenaissanceRe by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 342,500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $67,130,000 after purchasing an additional 18,186 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in RenaissanceRe during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in shares of RenaissanceRe in the 4th quarter worth approximately $314,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,627 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,691,000 after acquiring an additional 1,704 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.97% of the company’s stock.

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.