RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) Reaches New 12-Month High After Strong Earnings

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The company traded as high as $300.00 and last traded at $279.17, with a volume of 44030 shares. The stock had previously closed at $277.90.

The insurance provider reported $10.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.89 by $2.34. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.35 billion. RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 25.38% and a return on equity of 27.74%. The business’s revenue was up 52.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $8.33 EPS.

RenaissanceRe Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. RenaissanceRe’s payout ratio is presently 3.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays assumed coverage on RenaissanceRe in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $287.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $270.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on RenaissanceRe from $229.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded RenaissanceRe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $274.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $291.30.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.00, for a total transaction of $269,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 83,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,338,836. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On RenaissanceRe

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 32.4% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,697,636 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $461,679,000 after acquiring an additional 415,366 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 21.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 624,469 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $139,579,000 after buying an additional 109,851 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 86,562 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 115.3% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 81,006 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $22,066,000 after buying an additional 43,384 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in RenaissanceRe by 480.2% during the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 41,726 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $9,326,000 after buying an additional 34,534 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.97% of the company’s stock.

RenaissanceRe Stock Performance

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 market capitalization of $13.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.26, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $267.36 and its 200 day moving average is $241.40.

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.