RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) Short Interest Down 14.6% in December

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,690,000 shares, a drop of 14.6% from the December 15th total of 1,980,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 479,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on RNR. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $282.00 target price (down from $304.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $310.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of RenaissanceRe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $229.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, RenaissanceRe currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $284.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of RenaissanceRe stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 79,392 shares in the company, valued at $20,178,270.72. This trade represents a 1.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On RenaissanceRe

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 51.3% during the fourth 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. increased its position 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 buying an additional 50 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,811 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after buying an additional 608 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,797 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $696,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,611 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $898,000 after buying an additional 504 shares during the period. 99.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

RenaissanceRe Price Performance

RNR opened at $257.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The company has a market capitalization of $13.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $262.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $254.55. RenaissanceRe has a 1 year low of $203.35 and a 1 year high of $300.00.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The insurance provider reported $10.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.89 by $2.34. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.35 billion. RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 28.84% and a return on equity of 26.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 52.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $8.33 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that RenaissanceRe will post 42.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RenaissanceRe Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.25%.

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.