Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR - Free Report) by 85.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,053 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 17,271 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in RenaissanceRe were worth $760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in RNR. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in RenaissanceRe in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in RenaissanceRe in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in RenaissanceRe by 1,587.5% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 135 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in RenaissanceRe by 71.4% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its stake in RenaissanceRe by 179.3% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 257 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. 99.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on RNR shares. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. 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 research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $437.00 to $426.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $279.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, RenaissanceRe has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $283.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other RenaissanceRe news, CAO James Christopher Fraser sold 332 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.54, for a total value of $82,847.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,154 shares in the company, valued at $6,776,009.16. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

RenaissanceRe Trading Down 1.2%

RNR traded down $2.97 on Tuesday, reaching $250.98. 343,160 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 434,067. The company's 50 day moving average is $241.24 and its 200-day moving average is $247.35. The company has a market cap of $12.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.17, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.34. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a twelve month low of $208.98 and a twelve month high of $300.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported ($1.49) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.32) by ($1.17). The business had revenue of $3.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.36 billion. RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 15.99%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $12.18 EPS. Equities analysts predict that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 earnings per share for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. RenaissanceRe's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.10%.

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.