Cooke & Bieler LP Raises Position in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR - Free Report) by 18.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,247,742 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 190,139 shares during the period. RenaissanceRe accounts for about 3.0% of Cooke & Bieler LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Cooke & Bieler LP owned 2.55% of RenaissanceRe worth $299,458,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of RenaissanceRe in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 1,587.5% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 135 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Tsfg LLC acquired a new stake in shares of RenaissanceRe in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Huntington National Bank lifted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 179.3% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 257 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 116.5% in the first quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 262 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. 99.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

RenaissanceRe Price Performance

RenaissanceRe stock traded down $3.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $235.89. 347,357 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 449,800. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $242.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $241.81. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a 12 month low of $210.51 and a 12 month high of $300.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market cap of $11.48 billion, a PE ratio of 7.52, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.30.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported ($1.49) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $3.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $12.18 EPS. RenaissanceRe's revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RenaissanceRe Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. RenaissanceRe's payout ratio is 5.10%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RNR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised RenaissanceRe from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $231.00 to $256.00 in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $269.00 price target (up from $267.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on RenaissanceRe from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America dropped 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $268.00 price target (down from $282.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $288.00.

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.