Verition Fund Management LLC Trims Stake in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Verition Fund Management LLC cut its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 248,911 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 4,262 shares during the quarter. RenaissanceRe accounts for about 0.3% of Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in RenaissanceRe were worth $67,803,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of RNR. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 32.4% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,697,636 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $461,679,000 after purchasing an additional 415,366 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 9.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,027,601 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $229,679,000 after buying an additional 86,562 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in RenaissanceRe by 21.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 624,469 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $139,579,000 after buying an additional 109,851 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 3.1% during the second quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 254,965 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $56,987,000 after acquiring an additional 7,718 shares during the period. Finally, Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. lifted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 12.8% in the second quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 227,773 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $50,910,000 after acquiring an additional 25,760 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on RNR. Bank of America increased their target price on RenaissanceRe from $364.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays started coverage on shares of RenaissanceRe in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $287.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $274.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $270.00 to $314.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, RenaissanceRe has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.00.

Insider Transactions at RenaissanceRe

In related news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.00, for a total value of $279,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 82,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,890,276. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

RenaissanceRe Trading Up 1.1 %

RNR opened at $285.44 on Friday. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a 12 month low of $188.24 and a 12 month high of $300.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $269.96 and a 200 day moving average of $246.02. The firm has a market cap of $14.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.39.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The insurance provider reported $10.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.89 by $2.34. RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 26.31% and a net margin of 28.84%. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $8.33 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 52.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 41.94 EPS for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. RenaissanceRe’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.25%.

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.