RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) Short Interest Update

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) saw a significant decline in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,390,000 shares, a decline of 20.1% from the February 13th total of 1,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 523,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on RenaissanceRe from $288.00 to $277.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $245.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $318.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $279.90.

RenaissanceRe Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of RenaissanceRe stock opened at $239.63 on Monday. RenaissanceRe has a 1 year low of $208.98 and a 1 year high of $300.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $242.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $257.65. The company has a market capitalization of $11.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.38. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.94 by $1.12. RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 15.99%. As a group, equities analysts predict that RenaissanceRe will post 26.04 EPS for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was 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 $20,178,270.72. This represents a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of RenaissanceRe during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of RenaissanceRe during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in RenaissanceRe by 51.3% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in RenaissanceRe by 1,587.5% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 135 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in RenaissanceRe by 71.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 99.97% of the stock is currently 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.