RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

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

RNR has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $257.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $218.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America increased their price target on RenaissanceRe from $364.00 to $391.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $251.00 to $248.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.00.

RenaissanceRe Stock Performance

Shares of RenaissanceRe stock opened at $268.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $264.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $238.33. RenaissanceRe has a fifty-two week low of $188.24 and a fifty-two week high of $284.36. The firm has a market cap of $14.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.38.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $12.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.88 by $1.53. RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 27.74% and a net margin of 25.38%. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that RenaissanceRe will post 39.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RenaissanceRe Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other RenaissanceRe news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of RenaissanceRe stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.00, for a total value of $279,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 82,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,890,276. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of RenaissanceRe

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in RenaissanceRe in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of RenaissanceRe in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of RenaissanceRe in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in RenaissanceRe during the second quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in RenaissanceRe in the first quarter valued at $34,000. 99.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.