Orbis Allan Gray Ltd Sells 1,115,936 Shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. $RNR

Key Points

• Orbis Allan Gray Ltd has reduced its stake in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd by 39%, selling over 1 million shares, which brings its total holdings to approximately 1.7 million shares valued at $419.6 million.
• RenaissanceRe reported $12.29 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate but experiencing a 2.4% decline in quarterly revenue compared to the previous year.
• The firm declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share, which will be distributed to investors on September 30th, representing an annualized yield of 0.7%.

Orbis Allan Gray Ltd reduced its position in shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR - Free Report) by 39.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,748,169 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 1,115,936 shares during the period. RenaissanceRe makes up about 2.4% of Orbis Allan Gray Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd owned approximately 3.59% of RenaissanceRe worth $419,561,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in RNR. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 151.7% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 146 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Tsfg LLC acquired a new stake in RenaissanceRe during the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 116.5% during the 1st quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 262 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 165.1% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 464 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new position in RenaissanceRe during the 4th quarter worth $175,000. 99.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on RNR. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $268.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. UBS Group raised their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $285.00 to $280.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $269.00 price objective (up previously from $267.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $256.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $282.09.

RenaissanceRe Price Performance

Shares of RNR traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $246.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 56,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 473,172. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a one year low of $219.00 and a one year high of $300.00. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $241.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $240.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.29.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The insurance provider reported $12.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.28 by $2.01. RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 15.00% and a net margin of 15.44%.The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $12.41 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RenaissanceRe Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. RenaissanceRe's payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

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.