CNA Financial Corporation $CNA Shares Sold by River Road Asset Management LLC

River Road Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of CNA Financial Corporation (NYSE:CNA) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 843,719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 20,102 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned 0.31% of CNA Financial worth $40,279,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CNA. Amundi increased its stake in shares of CNA Financial by 5.3% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 7,787 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in CNA Financial by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 351,997 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $17,878,000 after acquiring an additional 2,466 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in CNA Financial by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,966 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 684 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new position in CNA Financial during the 1st quarter worth $281,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in CNA Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of CNA Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of CNA Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CNA Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

CNA Financial Stock Performance

CNA stock opened at $44.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $12.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.97, a P/E/G ratio of 6.28 and a beta of 0.30. CNA Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $41.53 and a 12-month high of $50.72. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.44.

CNA Financial (NYSE:CNA) 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). CNA Financial had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 8.08%.The firm had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CNA Financial Corporation will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

CNA Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. CNA Financial’s payout ratio is 42.95%.

About CNA Financial

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.