Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys New Stake in Loews Co. (NYSE:L)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Loews Co. (NYSE:L - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 57,576 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,876,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Loews during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in Loews during the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Loews during the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in Loews during the fourth quarter valued at about $56,000. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Loews during the fourth quarter valued at about $68,000. Institutional investors own 58.33% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jonathan M. Tisch sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.08, for a total value of $4,254,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,105,529 shares in the company, valued at $604,538,407.32. This represents a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jonathan M. Tisch sold 3,691 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.89, for a total transaction of $320,710.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 151,327 shares of company stock worth $12,851,055. Company insiders own 18.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut Loews from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th.

Loews Stock Performance

Shares of L traded up $0.68 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $85.95. The stock had a trading volume of 441,529 shares, compared to its average volume of 732,400. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $86.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.59. Loews Co. has a fifty-two week low of $73.15 and a fifty-two week high of $92.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43 and a beta of 0.60.

Loews (NYSE:L - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The insurance provider reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter. Loews had a net margin of 8.08% and a return on equity of 8.04%.

Loews Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.0625 per share. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. Loews's dividend payout ratio is presently 3.91%.

Loews Profile

Loews Corporation provides commercial property and casualty insurance in the United States and internationally. The company offers specialty insurance products, such as management and professional liability, and other coverage products; surety and fidelity bonds; property insurance products that include standard and excess property, marine and boiler, and machinery coverages; and casualty insurance products, such as workers' compensation, general and product liability, and commercial auto, surplus, and umbrella coverages.