Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) Stock

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) had its target price lifted by Morgan Stanley from $275.00 to $285.00 in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on RNR. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of RenaissanceRe from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $284.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $277.00 to $271.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $234.00 to $231.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, RenaissanceRe currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $283.60.

RenaissanceRe Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE RNR opened at $244.27 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market cap of $11.88 billion, a PE ratio of 6.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $240.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $248.76. RenaissanceRe has a 52 week low of $208.98 and a 52 week high of $300.00.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported ($1.49) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32) by ($1.17). RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 15.99% and a return on equity of 23.41%. The company had revenue of $3.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $12.18 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that RenaissanceRe will post 26.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RenaissanceRe Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at RenaissanceRe

In related news, CAO James Christopher Fraser sold 332 shares of RenaissanceRe stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.54, for a total value of $82,847.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,776,009.16. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RNR. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 40.5% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 541 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $130,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in RenaissanceRe by 1,180.7% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 74,217 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $17,812,000 after purchasing an additional 68,422 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in RenaissanceRe by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 209,820 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $50,357,000 after buying an additional 10,344 shares during the period. Optimize Financial Inc increased its stake in RenaissanceRe by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 1,509 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in RenaissanceRe in the 1st quarter valued at $797,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.97% of the company’s stock.

RenaissanceRe Company Profile

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.