Bermuda-based reinsurer RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd has raised its quarterly dividend for the 16th successive year to 26 cents per share from 25 cents.The increase means the company has managed to raise the payout to shareholders for every year since it became a public company.The dividend is payable on March 31, 2011 to shareholders of record on March 15, 2011.The new dividend rate equates to an annualised yield of about 1.6 percent, based on RenRe’s closing share trading price of $66.82 yesterday.RenRe also increased its stock repurchase programme to $500 million, another method of returning capital to shareholders.Ace Ltd also announced that its board of directors had recommended a 6.1 percent increase in its dividend to an annual yield of $1.40 per share, which represents a yield of 2.2 percent on yesterday’s closing share price of $62.64.Ace also declared a quarterly dividend equal of 33 cents payable on April 22, 2011, to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 1, 2011.