Principal Securities Inc. Increases Stake in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) by 11.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 565 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in RenaissanceRe were worth $141,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in RenaissanceRe by 51.3% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 121 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of RenaissanceRe during the third quarter valued at $45,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 129.4% during the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC increased its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 668.8% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 246 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. 99.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of RenaissanceRe stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.16, for a total transaction of $254,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 79,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,178,270.72. The trade was a 1.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RNR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays cut shares of RenaissanceRe from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $284.00 to $234.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $245.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $282.00 price objective (down previously from $304.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on RenaissanceRe from $318.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, RenaissanceRe has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $279.90.

RenaissanceRe Price Performance

RenaissanceRe stock opened at $232.80 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $244.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $258.09. 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 capitalization of $11.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.65, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.43. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a 52-week low of $208.98 and a 52-week high of $300.00.

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

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. This is a positive change from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.57%.

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.