RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR – Get Rating) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. TheStreet raised shares of RenaissanceRe from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $150.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $234.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. They set a market perform rating and a $187.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $197.25.

RenaissanceRe Price Performance

Shares of RNR stock opened at $188.99 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.37 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $203.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.07. RenaissanceRe has a one year low of $124.18 and a one year high of $223.80.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The insurance provider reported $7.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.58 by $0.75. RenaissanceRe had a negative net margin of 20.97% and a positive return on equity of 7.36%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that RenaissanceRe will post 23.52 EPS for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is a boost from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -5.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other RenaissanceRe news, Director Carol P. Sanders sold 1,515 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.32, for a total value of $320,149.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,189,520.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RNR. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 130.7% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,662,406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $234,054,000 after buying an additional 941,897 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of RenaissanceRe in the fourth quarter worth $140,549,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 10.6% in the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,687,321 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $517,664,000 after acquiring an additional 352,164 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of RenaissanceRe in the third quarter worth $31,514,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of RenaissanceRe in the fourth quarter worth $40,533,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.52% of the company’s stock.

RenaissanceRe Company Profile

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RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. engages in the provision of reinsurance and insurance services. It operates through the following business segments: Property, Casualty and Specialty, and Other. The Property segment focuses on catastrophe, and other property reinsurance and insurance. The Casualty and Specialty segment deals with casualty and specialty reinsurance, and insurance.