RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 119,034 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,682 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in RenaissanceRe were worth $29,617,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 565 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. purchased a new stake in shares of RenaissanceRe during the fourth quarter valued at $4,607,000. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 12,603 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,136,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new stake in shares of RenaissanceRe during the fourth quarter valued at $428,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.97% of the company’s stock.

RenaissanceRe Stock Performance

Shares of RNR stock opened at $226.53 on Friday. 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 Holdings Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $208.98 and a fifty-two week high of $300.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $245.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $257.94. The firm has a market cap of $11.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.47, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.43.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 earnings per share 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%. Analysts predict that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on RNR shares. Barclays downgraded RenaissanceRe from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $284.00 to $234.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $282.00 target price (down from $304.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on RenaissanceRe from $229.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $245.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, RenaissanceRe presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $279.90.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $20,178,270.72. This represents a 1.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.