Loews Corp. and its conglomerate CNA Financial Corp. insurance unit reported a fourth-quarter profit on Monday which was lesser that analysts' speculations as profit squeezed at its oil and gas drilling company, Diamond Offshore Drilling.

Diamond, in which Loews has a 50.4 percent stake, last week, revealed a 6 percent plunge in fourth-quarter earnings on account of weak demand for shallow-water rigs and a higher tax bill.

New York-based Loews, run by the billionaire Tisch family, reflected a profit of $403 million, or 94 cents a share, compared to a loss of $958 million, or $2.20 a share the previous year.

Excluding investment gains of 11 cents a share, reported profit was 83 cents a share. However, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters recently had estimated 95 cents.

The conglomerate revealed that it bought back 5.8 million shares in the quarter for about $205 million.

Loews' commercial insurer, CNA Financial Corp, posed as bliss for the company. CNA on Monday claimed to fetch a fourth-quarter net operating income of $246 million, or 81 cents a share, compared with a loss of $336 million, or $1.31 a share, a year earlier.

Loews' shares closed Friday at $35.37, while CNA's finished at $23.58. Neither has traded premarket.