CNA Financial Co. (NYSE:CNA) Shares Sold by Raymond James & Associates

Raymond James & Associates reduced its holdings in CNA Financial Co. (NYSE:CNA) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 300,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 13,402 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.11% of CNA Financial worth $12,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CNA. Loews Corp boosted its position in shares of CNA Financial by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Loews Corp now owns 248,414,738 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,775,120,000 after purchasing an additional 4,456,050 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in CNA Financial by 6.7% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,653,694 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $80,403,000 after buying an additional 104,417 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in CNA Financial by 6.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,506,830 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $58,812,000 after buying an additional 91,868 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of CNA Financial by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,172,451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,761,000 after acquiring an additional 8,967 shares during the period. Finally, Private Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CNA Financial by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 875,207 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $34,439,000 after acquiring an additional 66,795 shares in the last quarter. 98.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CNA Financial Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of CNA Financial stock opened at $44.17 on Thursday. CNA Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $36.41 and a 1 year high of $47.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.26 and a quick ratio of 0.26. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $44.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.30. The company has a market capitalization of $11.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.64.

CNA Financial (NYSE:CNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $3.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. CNA Financial had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 9.06%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CNA Financial Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CNA Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a None dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $2.44 per share. This is a boost from CNA Financial’s previous None dividend of $1.62. This represents a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. CNA Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on CNA Financial from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Bank of America lowered shares of CNA Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of CNA Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th.

CNA Financial Profile

CNA Financial Corporation provides commercial property and casualty insurance products in the United States and internationally. It operates through Specialty, Commercial, International, Life & Group, and Corporate & Other segments. The company offers professional liability coverages and risk management services to various professional firms, including architects, real estate agents, and accounting and law firms; directors and officers, employment practices, fiduciary, and fidelity and cyber coverages to small and mid-size firms, public and privately held firms, and not-for-profit organizations; professional and general liability, as well as associated casualty coverages for healthcare industry; surety and fidelity bonds; and warranty and alternative risks products.