RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) Upgraded to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $275.00 target price on the insurance provider's stock, up from their previous target price of $235.00. Morgan Stanley's target price suggests a potential upside of 14.65% from the company's current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $318.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $437.00 to $426.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Barclays decreased their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $234.00 to $231.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $282.60.

RenaissanceRe Price Performance

NYSE:RNR traded down $2.15 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $239.86. 158,808 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 427,500. The firm has a market cap of $11.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.29. RenaissanceRe has a 52 week low of $208.98 and a 52 week high of $300.00. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $238.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $251.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported ($1.49) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by ($1.17). RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 15.99%. The firm had revenue of $3.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.36 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $12.18 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that RenaissanceRe will post 26.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On RenaissanceRe

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RNR. Barclays PLC lifted its position in RenaissanceRe by 57.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 22,923 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,244,000 after buying an additional 8,333 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of RenaissanceRe during the third quarter valued at $16,176,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of RenaissanceRe during the third quarter valued at $405,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 2.6% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 9,236 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,516,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $293,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.97% of the company's stock.

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.