Aberdeen Group plc Acquires 16,463 Shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. $RNR

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc boosted its stake in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. by 151.6%, now owning approximately 27,320 shares worth $6,557,000.
• RenaissanceRe reported earnings of $12.29 per share, exceeding estimates by $2.01, while revenue for the quarter totaled $2.77 billion, falling short of analyst expectations.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share, with an annual yield of 0.6%, payable to shareholders on September 30th.

Aberdeen Group plc increased its holdings in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR - Free Report) by 151.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,320 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 16,463 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.06% of RenaissanceRe worth $6,557,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RNR. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 33,487.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 396,000 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $95,040,000 after purchasing an additional 394,821 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in RenaissanceRe in the 1st quarter worth approximately $54,087,000. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 18.0% in the 1st quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,247,742 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $299,458,000 after purchasing an additional 190,139 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 817,247 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $203,339,000 after purchasing an additional 124,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 763,210 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $183,175,000 after purchasing an additional 101,060 shares in the last quarter. 99.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on RNR shares. Citigroup started coverage on RenaissanceRe in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. They set a "buy" rating and a $288.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $256.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $268.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. UBS Group upped their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $285.00 to $280.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $282.09.

RenaissanceRe Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:RNR traded down $1.1290 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $248.0210. 307,587 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 383,465. The firm's fifty day moving average is $241.52 and its 200-day moving average is $240.49. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a 12-month low of $219.00 and a 12-month high of $300.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The insurance provider reported $12.29 earnings per share 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $12.41 EPS. RenaissanceRe's quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 EPS for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Dividend Announcement

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

RenaissanceRe 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.