First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stock Holdings in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. $RNR

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 251,548 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,789 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in RenaissanceRe were worth $63,876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RNR. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of RenaissanceRe in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 151.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 131 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in RenaissanceRe during the third quarter worth $36,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of RenaissanceRe in the third quarter worth $52,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 191.8% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 248 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. 99.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Robert Qutub sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.75, for a total transaction of $1,528,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 73,023 shares in the company, valued at $22,326,782.25. This represents a 6.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $312.00 price target on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Zacks Research lowered shares of RenaissanceRe from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Evercore lifted their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $283.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Barclays boosted their price target on RenaissanceRe from $278.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered RenaissanceRe from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, RenaissanceRe presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $310.27.

RenaissanceRe Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of RNR stock opened at $297.46 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $288.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $268.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.43. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a 1-year low of $219.00 and a 1-year high of $315.88. The firm has a market cap of $12.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.25, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.21.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The insurance provider reported $13.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.59 by $2.75. RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 20.88% and a return on equity of 18.29%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $8.06 earnings per share. RenaissanceRe’s revenue was up 29.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 EPS for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is a boost from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.82%.

RenaissanceRe Company Profile

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. is a global provider of reinsurance and insurance solutions, specializing in property catastrophe, casualty, and specialty lines. Established in 1993 and headquartered in Bermuda, the company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RNR. With a focus on underwriting and risk assessment, RenaissanceRe offers tailored programs designed to help insurers and corporations manage exposure to natural disasters, liability claims, and other complex risks.

The company operates through two primary segments: Reinsurance and Insurance.