RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) Shares Sold by South Dakota Investment Council

South Dakota Investment Council trimmed its holdings in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 89,128 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in RenaissanceRe were worth $22,176,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 121 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 40.0% in 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 during the period. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,645 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 3.6% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,530 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 565 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. 99.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

RenaissanceRe Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of RNR opened at $226.53 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.16 billion, a PE ratio of 6.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.43. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a 1 year low of $208.98 and a 1 year high of $300.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $245.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $257.94.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last issued its 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%. Analysts forecast that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This is a boost from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.45%.

Insider Activity at RenaissanceRe

In other RenaissanceRe news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 79,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,178,270.72. This trade represents a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on RNR shares. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $282.00 price objective (down previously from $304.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $229.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, RenaissanceRe has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $279.90.

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.