Alliancebernstein L.P. Has $18.06 Million Position in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lessened its position in shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR - Free Report) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 72,597 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 6,975 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.14% of RenaissanceRe worth $18,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Partners lifted its position in RenaissanceRe by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,013,382 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $500,991,000 after purchasing an additional 446,781 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,880,166 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $466,969,000 after buying an additional 182,530 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 2.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 920,814 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $250,892,000 after buying an additional 25,773 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in RenaissanceRe in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $173,530,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 183,835 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $45,744,000 after acquiring an additional 29,974 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.97% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of RenaissanceRe stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was 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 owns 79,392 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on RenaissanceRe from $277.00 to $271.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded RenaissanceRe from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $284.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on RenaissanceRe from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $245.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $280.80.

RenaissanceRe Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:RNR traded up $5.87 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $237.92. 524,254 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 417,210. The firm has a market cap of $11.66 billion, a PE ratio of 6.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.29. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $208.98 and a fifty-two week high of $300.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $236.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $254.44. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts forecast that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 earnings per share for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. This is a boost from RenaissanceRe's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. RenaissanceRe's dividend payout ratio is currently 4.57%.

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.