RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning.

RNR has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $251.00 to $248.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on RenaissanceRe from $218.00 to $229.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays began coverage on RenaissanceRe in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $287.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $262.00 to $298.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $289.00.

RenaissanceRe Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE:RNR opened at $278.73 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $256.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $235.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.51, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. RenaissanceRe has a 1-year low of $188.24 and a 1-year high of $283.86.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $12.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.88 by $1.53. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 27.74% and a net margin of 25.38%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that RenaissanceRe will post 40.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RenaissanceRe Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. RenaissanceRe’s payout ratio is presently 3.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.00, for a total value of $279,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 82,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,890,276. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other RenaissanceRe news, CFO Robert Qutub sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.56, for a total value of $561,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,598,352.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.00, for a total transaction of $279,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 82,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,890,276. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,339,400 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of RenaissanceRe

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RNR. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of RenaissanceRe in the first quarter valued at about $46,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new stake in RenaissanceRe during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,887,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in RenaissanceRe by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 27,448 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,451,000 after purchasing an additional 3,962 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of RenaissanceRe in the 1st quarter valued at about $744,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 47.6% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 24,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,815,000 after buying an additional 7,975 shares during the period. 99.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.