Bank of Nova Scotia Increases Position in Loews Co. (NYSE:L)

Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in shares of Loews Co. (NYSE:L) by 90.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 53,610 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,425 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Loews were worth $4,540,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Loews in the fourth quarter worth $623,493,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Loews by 345.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 296,538 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,114,000 after buying an additional 229,965 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in Loews by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,499,417 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $126,983,000 after buying an additional 217,115 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Loews by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,476,087 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $378,087,000 after acquiring an additional 210,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Loews during the fourth quarter valued at about $12,727,000. Institutional investors own 58.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction of $4,254,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,105,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $604,538,407.32. The trade was a 0.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 151,327 shares of company stock worth $12,851,055. Corporate insiders own 18.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Loews Stock Up 0.3 %

L stock opened at $84.61 on Friday. Loews Co. has a one year low of $72.91 and a one year high of $92.42. 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’s fifty day moving average is $85.95 and its 200 day moving average is $84.01. The firm has a market cap of $17.80 billion, a PE ratio of 13.22 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Loews Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a $0.0625 dividend. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. Loews’s payout ratio is 3.91%.

About Loews

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.