Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 3,097 Shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,427,756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,097 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.10% of RenaissanceRe worth $1,350,480,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of RenaissanceRe in the fourth quarter valued at $206,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 7,125 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,773,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in RenaissanceRe in the 4th quarter worth about $3,359,000. AXQ Capital LP bought a new stake in RenaissanceRe in the fourth quarter worth about $477,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 183,835 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,744,000 after buying an additional 29,974 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at RenaissanceRe

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 directly owns 79,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,178,270.72. This represents a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on RNR shares. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $282.00 price target (down from $304.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $245.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $288.00 to $277.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $283.40.

RenaissanceRe Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE RNR opened at $246.78 on Friday. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a 12-month low of $208.98 and a 12-month high of $300.00. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $240.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $256.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.15 billion, a PE ratio of 7.05, 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.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts expect that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. RenaissanceRe’s payout ratio is 4.57%.

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.