RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $259.06, but opened at $246.22. RenaissanceRe shares last traded at $237.46, with a volume of 340,072 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RNR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $229.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $364.00 to $391.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com downgraded RenaissanceRe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays downgraded RenaissanceRe from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $284.00 to $234.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, RenaissanceRe has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $284.00.

RenaissanceRe Stock Down 8.1 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $261.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $257.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.43. The company has a market capitalization of $12.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.44, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.94 by $1.12. RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 28.84% and a return on equity of 26.31%. Equities research analysts forecast that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 42.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RenaissanceRe Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. RenaissanceRe’s payout ratio is currently 2.25%.

Insider Activity at RenaissanceRe

In other news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.16, for a total value of $254,160.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 79,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,178,270.72. This trade represents a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On RenaissanceRe

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in RenaissanceRe in the second quarter worth $1,186,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in RenaissanceRe in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,684,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in RenaissanceRe by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 80,773 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $22,003,000 after purchasing an additional 8,844 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 920,814 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $250,892,000 after purchasing an additional 25,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 367.4% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 30,476 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,302,000 after purchasing an additional 23,956 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.97% of the company’s stock.

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.