StockNews.com Downgrades RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) to Hold

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday.

RNR has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $251.00 to $248.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $334.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $288.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $263.40.

RenaissanceRe Price Performance

RenaissanceRe stock opened at $257.69 on Wednesday. RenaissanceRe has a 52 week low of $183.82 and a 52 week high of $259.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $230.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $227.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.63 billion, a PE ratio of 5.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.38.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $12.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.88 by $1.53. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 25.38% and a return on equity of 27.74%. On average, equities research analysts predict that RenaissanceRe will post 38.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,675,120. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other RenaissanceRe news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,675,120. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert Qutub sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.56, for a total value of $561,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 73,915 shares in the company, valued at $16,598,352.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in RNR. American International Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 1,829.6% in the 4th quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 1,393,546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $273,135,000 after acquiring an additional 1,321,325 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in RenaissanceRe during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $133,196,000. Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in RenaissanceRe by 637.3% during the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 199,166 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $39,037,000 after purchasing an additional 172,154 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in RenaissanceRe by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,565,691 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,090,875,000 after purchasing an additional 148,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 4.7% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,752,016 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $646,806,000 after buying an additional 124,039 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.