Wells Fargo & Company MN Reduces Position in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Wells Fargo & Company MN lessened its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) by 21.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 87,310 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 23,728 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN’s holdings in RenaissanceRe were worth $21,724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of RNR. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,013,382 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $500,991,000 after purchasing an additional 446,781 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in RenaissanceRe by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,880,166 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $466,969,000 after buying an additional 182,530 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,144,805 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $284,907,000 after acquiring an additional 223,991 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of RenaissanceRe during the fourth quarter worth approximately $173,530,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 19.5% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 183,835 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,744,000 after acquiring an additional 29,974 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on RNR. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $245.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on RenaissanceRe from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Barclays reduced their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $234.00 to $231.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded RenaissanceRe from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $284.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $280.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.16, for a total value of $254,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 79,392 shares in the company, valued at $20,178,270.72. This trade represents a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

RenaissanceRe Stock Up 2.5 %

RenaissanceRe stock opened at $237.92 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $236.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $254.44. The company has a market cap of $11.66 billion, a PE ratio of 6.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a 1-year low of $208.98 and a 1-year high of $300.00.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.94 by $1.12. RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 15.99% and a return on equity of 23.41%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.57%.

RenaissanceRe 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.