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

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) saw a large drop in short interest in 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 volume of 479,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on RNR shares. StockNews.com lowered RenaissanceRe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $229.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays downgraded shares of RenaissanceRe from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $284.00 to $234.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $282.00 target price (down from $304.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $310.00 to $318.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $284.00.

RenaissanceRe Stock Performance

RNR traded up $0.41 on Friday, hitting $257.38. 1,345,502 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 422,910. The company has a 50 day moving average of $262.33 and a 200-day moving average of $254.82. RenaissanceRe has a 12-month low of $203.35 and a 12-month high of $300.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.37 billion, a PE ratio of 3.71, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The insurance provider reported $10.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.89 by $2.34. RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 28.84% and a return on equity of 26.31%. The company had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $8.33 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 52.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that RenaissanceRe will post 42.29 earnings per share for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. RenaissanceRe’s payout ratio is 2.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at RenaissanceRe

In other RenaissanceRe news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.16, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RNR. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 29.5% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 180 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in RenaissanceRe by 51.3% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 121 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 19.8% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 272 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,073 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted 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 worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.97% of the company’s stock.

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.