Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) by 4.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 54,866 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,187 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned 0.10% of RenaissanceRe worth $12,895,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RNR. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 12,565 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,463,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 3,436 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $673,000 after buying an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 51,301 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,055,000 after buying an additional 753 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 2,235.7% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 16,864 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,305,000 after buying an additional 16,142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Custom Index Systems LLC purchased a new stake in RenaissanceRe during the fourth quarter worth $283,000. 99.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

RenaissanceRe Trading Up 1.2 %

RenaissanceRe stock traded up $2.81 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $234.67. 411,730 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 357,839. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $174.22 and a fifty-two week high of $239.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.18, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $224.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $224.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $12.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.86 by $2.32. RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 25.38% and a return on equity of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $8.16 earnings per share. RenaissanceRe’s revenue was up 41.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 38.07 EPS for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. RenaissanceRe’s payout ratio is currently 3.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other RenaissanceRe news, CFO Robert Qutub sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.56, for a total transaction of $561,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 73,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,598,352.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other RenaissanceRe news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction 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 $19,675,120. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Robert Qutub sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.56, for a total transaction of $561,400.00. Following 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. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on RNR shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $257.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of RenaissanceRe from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $251.00 to $248.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $263.40.

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.