Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Makes New Investment in CNA Financial Corporation $CNA

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in CNA Financial Corporation (NYSE:CNA) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 190,632 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,267,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new position in shares of CNA Financial during the second quarter valued at about $420,000. Hudson Portfolio Management LLC bought a new stake in CNA Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,941,000. Compass Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in CNA Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Commerce Bank bought a new stake in CNA Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $330,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in CNA Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,874,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.45% of the company’s stock.

CNA Financial Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE CNA opened at $49.42 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.86, a PEG ratio of 6.56 and a beta of 0.28. CNA Financial Corporation has a one year low of $41.53 and a one year high of $55.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The business’s fifty day moving average is $50.73 and its 200-day moving average is $47.79.

CNA Financial (NYSE:CNA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The insurance provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. CNA Financial had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 11.34%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.23 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that CNA Financial Corporation will post 4.19 EPS for the current year.

CNA Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. CNA Financial’s payout ratio is presently 42.20%.

Insider Transactions at CNA Financial

In other news, EVP Mark Steven James sold 8,273 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.15, for a total transaction of $439,709.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 26,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,405,604.90. This represents a 23.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Daniel Paul Franzetti sold 22,656 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.09, for a total transaction of $1,202,807.04. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 68,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,611,818.88. This represents a 24.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on CNA. Weiss Ratings raised shares of CNA Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research raised CNA Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CNA Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

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.