Hedge Funds Are Buying RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (RNR)

What’s a smart RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) investor to do?

Now, according to many market players, hedge funds are seen as bloated, outdated financial tools of a forgotten age. Although there are more than 8,000 hedge funds trading currently, this site aim at the leaders of this club, about 525 funds. It is assumed that this group oversees most of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by paying attention to their highest quality equity investments, we’ve unsheathed a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have topped the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (find a sample of our picks).

Equally as key, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of motivations for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if you know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s discuss the newest info for RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR).

How have hedgies been trading RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 17 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 6% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)According to our 13F database, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors had the biggest position in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR), worth close to $145.2 million, accounting for 0.8% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is CR Intrinsic Investors, managed by SAC Subsidiary, which held a $37.6 million position; 1.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedge funds that hold long positions include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

As one would understandably expect, particular hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. SAC Capital Advisors, managed by Steven Cohen, created the largest position in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR). SAC Capital Advisors had 145.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. SAC Subsidiary’s CR Intrinsic Investors also initiated a $37.6 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

How are insiders trading RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)?

Insider buying made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time period, RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR). These stocks are Markel Corporation (NYSE:MKL), White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd (NYSE:WTM), HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HCC), American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG), and Validus Holdings, Ltd. (NYSE:VR). This group of stocks are in the property & casualty insurance industry and their market caps are similar to RNR’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
Markel Corporation (NYSE:MKL) 22 0 0
White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd (NYSE:WTM) 9 0 0
HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HCC) 17 0 0
American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG) 19 0 0
Validus Holdings, Ltd. (NYSE:VR) 23 0 0

Using the returns demonstrated by our strategies, regular investors must always track hedge fund and insider trading activity, and RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) is an important part of this process.

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RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (RNR): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It

Insider Trading Activity

Hedge Fund Activity