RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) Increases Dividend to $0.40 Per Share

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the insurance provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a 2.6% increase from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39.

RenaissanceRe has increased its dividend by an average of 2.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 30 consecutive years. RenaissanceRe has a dividend payout ratio of 4.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect RenaissanceRe to earn $38.87 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 4.1%.

RenaissanceRe Stock Down 0.8 %

RNR stock opened at $239.53 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market cap of $11.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $242.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $257.97. RenaissanceRe has a 52 week low of $208.98 and a 52 week high of $300.00.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.94 by $1.12. RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 15.99% and a return on equity of 23.41%. On average, research analysts expect that RenaissanceRe will post 26.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on RNR shares. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $318.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $245.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lowered shares of RenaissanceRe from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $284.00 to $234.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $282.00 price objective (down previously from $304.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $279.90.

Insider Activity at RenaissanceRe

In related news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.16, for a total value of $254,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 79,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,178,270.72. The trade was a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.