RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) Short Interest Down 20.1% in February

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) saw a large drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,390,000 shares, a drop of 20.1% from the February 13th total of 1,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 523,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

RenaissanceRe Price Performance

RNR traded up $0.27 on Wednesday, hitting $240.88. 590,756 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 388,614. RenaissanceRe has a fifty-two week low of $208.98 and a fifty-two week high of $300.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $241.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $257.35. The stock has a market cap of $11.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.38.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that RenaissanceRe will post 26.04 earnings per share for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. RenaissanceRe’s payout ratio is 4.57%.

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 value of $254,160.00. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,882,835 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $717,278,000 after acquiring an additional 233,708 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,013,382 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $500,991,000 after acquiring an additional 446,781 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,880,166 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $466,969,000 after acquiring an additional 182,530 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 1,298,190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $323,003,000 after acquiring an additional 69,884 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,144,805 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $284,907,000 after acquiring an additional 223,991 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RNR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $282.00 price target (down from $304.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $318.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $245.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.