Wedbush Securities Inc. Acquires 630 Shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) by 31.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,655 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in RenaissanceRe were worth $593,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in RNR. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of RenaissanceRe in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new position in RenaissanceRe in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in RenaissanceRe in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in RenaissanceRe during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of RenaissanceRe during the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.97% of the company’s stock.

RenaissanceRe Stock Performance

NYSE RNR opened at $254.13 on Friday. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a 1 year low of $188.24 and a 1 year high of $261.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $237.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $229.72.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $12.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.88 by $1.53. RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 27.74% and a net margin of 25.38%. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 39.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RenaissanceRe Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. RenaissanceRe’s payout ratio is 3.45%.

Insider Transactions at RenaissanceRe

In related news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of RenaissanceRe stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,675,120. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the sale, 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 document filed 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 dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.56, for a total value of $561,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,598,352.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on RNR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Citigroup lifted their target price on RenaissanceRe from $262.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of RenaissanceRe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $334.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $251.00 to $248.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $272.60.

RenaissanceRe Profile

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.