Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $8.50 Million in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 34,155 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,498,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in RenaissanceRe by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 23,011 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,268,000 after acquiring an additional 824 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in RenaissanceRe in the 3rd quarter valued at $231,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in RenaissanceRe in the 3rd quarter valued at $243,000. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in RenaissanceRe by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 15,391 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,193,000 after acquiring an additional 1,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in RenaissanceRe in the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. 99.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at RenaissanceRe

In other news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.16, for a total transaction of $254,160.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 79,392 shares in the company, valued at $20,178,270.72. The trade was 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on RNR shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $282.00 price objective (down from $304.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $288.00 to $277.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $318.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $279.90.

RenaissanceRe Stock Up 0.4 %

RenaissanceRe stock opened at $236.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.66 billion, a PE ratio of 6.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50-day moving average is $241.01 and its 200-day moving average is $257.08. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $208.98 and a fifty-two week high of $300.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 earnings per share for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. RenaissanceRe’s payout ratio is currently 4.57%.

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.