RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) Short Interest Down 20.1% in February

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of 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 trading volume of 523,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Transactions at RenaissanceRe

In related news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of RenaissanceRe stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $20,178,270.72. This trade represents a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 51.3% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 121 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,645 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,156,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,530 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 4,688 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,166,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 99.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on 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 reduced their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays downgraded RenaissanceRe from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $284.00 to $234.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $279.90.

RenaissanceRe Stock Down 1.9 %

RNR traded down $4.55 on Tuesday, hitting $240.74. 344,958 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 387,132. RenaissanceRe has a twelve month low of $208.98 and a twelve month high of $300.00. The company has a market cap of $11.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $241.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $257.46.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that RenaissanceRe will post 26.04 earnings per share for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.57%.

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.