First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 710,698 Shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) by 462.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 864,252 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 710,698 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in RenaissanceRe were worth $215,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in RenaissanceRe in the 4th quarter valued at about $173,530,000. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,013,382 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $500,991,000 after acquiring an additional 446,781 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,144,805 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $284,907,000 after purchasing an additional 223,991 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,880,166 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $466,969,000 after purchasing an additional 182,530 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 821,111 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $204,301,000 after purchasing an additional 94,389 shares during the last quarter. 99.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

RenaissanceRe Stock Performance

NYSE:RNR opened at $241.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.81 billion, a PE ratio of 6.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a twelve month low of $208.98 and a twelve month high of $300.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $237.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.31.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last released its quarterly earnings data 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, analysts anticipate that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. This is a positive change from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. RenaissanceRe’s payout ratio is currently 4.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on RNR shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $437.00 to $426.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of RenaissanceRe from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $284.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $245.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $280.80.

RenaissanceRe Company 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.