Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Buys 1,766 Shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 13,418 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,766 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in RenaissanceRe were worth $3,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in RenaissanceRe during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in RenaissanceRe by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 121 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 1,587.5% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 135 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in RenaissanceRe by 71.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 99.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

RenaissanceRe Stock Up 1.4 %

RenaissanceRe stock opened at $239.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market cap of $11.80 billion, a PE ratio of 6.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.38. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $208.98 and a fifty-two week high of $300.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $242.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $257.64.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.94 by $1.12. RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 15.99%. Research analysts predict that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. This is a positive change from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.16, for a total transaction of $254,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 79,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,178,270.72. This represents a 1.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $318.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. 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 note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays cut RenaissanceRe from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $284.00 to $234.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on RenaissanceRe from $288.00 to $277.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $279.90.

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.