Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Position in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR - Free Report) by 4.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 113,447 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 5,587 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.23% of RenaissanceRe worth $27,227,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 817,247 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $203,339,000 after buying an additional 124,125 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in RenaissanceRe in the 1st quarter valued at about $271,000. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in RenaissanceRe during the 4th quarter valued at about $561,000. Yorktown Management & Research Co Inc purchased a new position in RenaissanceRe during the 1st quarter valued at about $348,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in RenaissanceRe by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 10,715 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,666,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. 99.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of 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 RenaissanceRe from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $284.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays raised RenaissanceRe from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $231.00 to $256.00 in a report on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed 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. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $288.56.

RenaissanceRe Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE RNR traded down $1.17 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $237.27. 279,828 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 446,468. The business's 50 day moving average is $244.00 and its 200-day moving average is $242.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.36. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a 12-month low of $210.51 and a 12-month high of $300.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.30.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported ($1.49) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by ($1.17). RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 13.26%. The company had revenue of $3.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $12.18 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RenaissanceRe Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. RenaissanceRe's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.10%.

Insider Activity at RenaissanceRe

In related news, CAO James Christopher Fraser sold 332 shares of RenaissanceRe stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,776,009.16. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.