CNA Financial Corporation $CNA Shares Sold by Torray Investment Partners LLC

Key Points

• Torray Investment Partners reduced its CNA Financial stake by 4.7% in the first quarter, selling 23,056 shares and leaving it with 470,346 shares worth about $21.6 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with 98.45% of CNA Financial shares held by hedge funds and other institutional investors, and several firms recently increased their positions.
• CNA Financial reported mixed quarterly results, missing EPS estimates at $0.83 versus $1.30 expected, even though revenue came in above forecasts at $3.68 billion; the stock also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share, yielding about 3.7%.

Torray Investment Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of CNA Financial Corporation (NYSE:CNA - Free Report) by 4.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 470,346 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 23,056 shares during the period. CNA Financial comprises about 3.2% of Torray Investment Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Torray Investment Partners LLC owned 0.17% of CNA Financial worth $21,598,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL raised its position in CNA Financial by 125.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 164,121 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $7,625,000 after purchasing an additional 91,205 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in CNA Financial during the 4th quarter worth $2,632,000. Capula Management Ltd increased its stake in CNA Financial by 24.6% in the third quarter. Capula Management Ltd now owns 109,529 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $5,089,000 after purchasing an additional 21,591 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in CNA Financial by 8,100.7% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 484,580 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $23,134,000 after purchasing an additional 478,671 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of CNA Financial by 25.9% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 867,787 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $41,428,000 after buying an additional 178,314 shares during the last quarter. 98.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CNA. Zacks Research downgraded shares of CNA Financial from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded CNA Financial from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold".

CNA Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CNA traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $51.38. 335,492 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 596,202. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.77. CNA Financial Corporation has a 1-year low of $41.53 and a 1-year high of $52.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $13.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.02 and a beta of 0.28.

CNA Financial (NYSE:CNA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The insurance provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.30 by ($0.47). The firm had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. CNA Financial had a net margin of 8.08% and a return on equity of 11.57%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CNA Financial Corporation will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CNA Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. CNA Financial's payout ratio is 42.95%.

CNA Financial Profile

CNA Financial Corporation is a leading U.S.-based commercial property and casualty insurance company offering a broad portfolio of risk management and insurance solutions. The company underwrites coverage for businesses of all sizes across a variety of industry sectors, including manufacturing, healthcare, energy, technology, construction and real estate. In addition to core property and casualty insurance, CNA delivers specialized products such as surety bonds, professional liability, environmental liability and commercial auto coverage.

Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, CNA traces its origins to the founding of Continental Casualty Company in 1897.

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