RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) Lifted to “Buy” at StockNews.com

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Monday.

RNR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $251.00 to $248.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays started coverage on RenaissanceRe in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $287.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America increased their target price on RenaissanceRe from $364.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on RenaissanceRe from $270.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $262.00 to $298.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.00.

RenaissanceRe Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of RNR traded up $3.18 on Monday, reaching $278.73. The stock had a trading volume of 394,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 341,519. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. RenaissanceRe has a 12-month low of $188.24 and a 12-month high of $283.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $256.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $235.45.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $12.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.88 by $1.53. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 27.74% and a net margin of 25.38%. Sell-side analysts predict that RenaissanceRe will post 40.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of RenaissanceRe stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.00, for a total value of $279,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 82,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,890,276. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other RenaissanceRe news, CFO Robert Qutub sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.56, for a total value of $561,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,598,352.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.00, for a total value of $279,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 82,044 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,890,276. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,339,400 in the last ninety days. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of RenaissanceRe

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,565,691 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,090,875,000 after acquiring an additional 148,173 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 624,469 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $139,579,000 after purchasing an additional 109,851 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,282,270 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $286,028,000 after buying an additional 91,425 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 9.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,027,601 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $229,679,000 after buying an additional 86,562 shares during the period. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in RenaissanceRe in the 1st quarter worth $10,329,000. Hedge funds and other 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.