Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Sells 345 Shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA lessened its holdings in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 14,674 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 345 shares during the quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in RenaissanceRe were worth $3,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of RNR. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 121 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 40.0% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in RenaissanceRe in the third quarter worth about $45,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 129.4% in the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC grew its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 668.8% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 246 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at RenaissanceRe

In related news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.16, for a total transaction of $254,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 79,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,178,270.72. This trade represents a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on RNR shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $229.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $282.00 price target (down previously from $304.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $245.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $318.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $279.90.

RenaissanceRe Stock Up 1.7 %

RNR opened at $237.63 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a 1-year low of $208.98 and a 1-year high of $300.00. The company has a market capitalization of $11.70 billion, a PE ratio of 6.79, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $244.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $257.75.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.94 by $1.12. RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 15.99% and a return on equity of 23.41%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 EPS for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. This is an increase from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.57%.

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.