Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Buys 22,074 Shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its position in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR - Free Report) by 35.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 84,798 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 22,074 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. owned 0.16% of RenaissanceRe worth $21,099,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in RNR. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in RenaissanceRe by 3.7% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 23,011 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,268,000 after buying an additional 824 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of RenaissanceRe in the third quarter valued at approximately $231,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,362 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $371,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in RenaissanceRe by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,530 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in RenaissanceRe during the 3rd quarter valued at $243,000. Institutional investors own 99.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and set a $282.00 price objective (down previously from $304.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lowered shares of RenaissanceRe from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $284.00 to $234.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of RenaissanceRe from $318.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $279.90.

RenaissanceRe Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of RNR stock traded up $3.37 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $239.71. The company had a trading volume of 431,389 shares, compared to its average volume of 393,341. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a 1-year low of $208.98 and a 1-year high of $300.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The firm has a market cap of $11.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $240.74 and a 200 day moving average of $256.92.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.94 by $1.12. RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 15.99%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 26.04 EPS for the current year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from RenaissanceRe's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. RenaissanceRe's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.57%.

Insider Transactions 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 stock was sold at an average price of $254.16, for a total transaction of $254,160.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

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.