Is RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) a good investment right now? We check hedge fund and billionaire investor sentiment before delving into hours of research. Hedge funds spend millions of dollars on Ivy League graduates, expert networks, and get tips from industry insiders. They fail miserably sometimes but historically their consensus stock picks outperformed the market after adjusting for known risk factors.
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) has seen a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently. At the end of this article we will also compare RNR to other stocks including National Retail Properties, Inc. (NYSE:NNN), People’s United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBCT), and Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:LYV) to get a better sense of its popularity.
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With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the fresh action regarding RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR).
How are hedge funds trading RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -27% from the second quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the biggest position in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR). Citadel Investment Group has a $130.8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Abrams Bison Investments, managed by Gavin M. Abrams, which holds a $66.5 million position; the fund has 7.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other professional money managers with similar optimism encompass D E Shaw, Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management and Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management.
Judging by the fact that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) has witnessed a declination in interest from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of hedgies that slashed their positions entirely heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP dropped the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds watched by Insider Monkey, comprising about $17.4 million in stock. Greg Poole’s fund, Echo Street Capital Management, also said goodbye to its stock, about $5.5 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 7 funds heading into Q4.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR). These stocks are National Retail Properties, Inc. (NYSE:NNN), People’s United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBCT), Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:LYV), and Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) (NYSE:SLW). This group of stocks’ market values resemble RNR’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| NNN | 16 | 197330 | -1 |
| PBCT | 10 | 55674 | -2 |
| LYV | 28 | 577396 | -8 |
| SLW | 21 | 204279 | -1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 18.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $259 million. That figure was $345 million in RNR’s case. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:LYV) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand People’s United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBCT) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard LYV might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
