Bridgewater Associates LP Acquires 31,417 Shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR - Free Report) by 158.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 51,306 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 31,417 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP owned about 0.10% of RenaissanceRe worth $12,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in RenaissanceRe during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in RenaissanceRe in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in RenaissanceRe by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 121 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in RenaissanceRe by 1,587.5% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 135 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RNR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on RenaissanceRe from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of RenaissanceRe from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $284.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America cut their price target on RenaissanceRe from $437.00 to $426.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $234.00 to $231.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $318.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, RenaissanceRe currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $280.80.

RenaissanceRe Stock Performance

RNR stock traded up $4.47 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $239.29. 37,378 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 417,543. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $237.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $252.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.29. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a one year low of $208.98 and a one year high of $300.00.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.94 by $1.12. RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 15.99%. Equities research analysts forecast that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 EPS for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from RenaissanceRe's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. RenaissanceRe's payout ratio is 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.