Seeking Alpha

Seeking Alpha Portfolio App for iPad

2,670 people get HIG articles and Market Currents by email alert.

Get email alerts on HIG »

HIG

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.

6/18/2013, 8:48 PM ET

Quote & Headlines Market Currents StockTalk

All
| Earnings
| Dividends
| M&A
| On the move

Friday, June 7, 11:37 AM Among the strongest performers in a strong market are insurers - particularly life insurers - on hope of a sustained rise in interest rates allowing better income on their investments (current holdings tend to be hedged meaning no losses). MetLife (MET +2%), Prudential (PRU +3%), Hartford (HIG +2.3%), Genworth (GNW +3.3%), Manulife (MFC +1.9%), Lincoln National (LNC +2.8%) Sun Life (SLF +1.4%), ING US (VOYA +2.8%). Insurer ETFs: KIE, though it is more exposed to P&C, IAK, KBWI, KBWP, though totally P&C focused. 1 Comment [Financials, On the Move]
Wednesday, May 29, 1:54 PM "Higher interest rates and a steeper yield curve are the first items on all insurance company CEO's Christmas lists," writes Scott Barlow in a piece titled, "How the U.S. Treasury market determines Manulife's (MFC +1.6%) stock price." It's eye on the Bloomberg, Credit Suisse ups price targets on MetLife (MET +2.3%), Hartford (HIG +1%), Aflac (AFL +1%), Ameriprise (AMP -0.3%), and Principal (PFG +1%). Others benefitting from a steeper curve: LNC and SLF. 1 Comment [Financials]
Saturday, May 18, 8:45 AM Newly public ING U.S. (VOYA) is up 20% since its IPO 2 weeks ago, but only trades at 60% of book value compared to the average life insurer (MET, HIG, PRU) selling for near book, writes Andrew Bary. Not only that, but the company is misunderstood - it's more retirement-services specialist and asset manager (think PFG) than life insurer, and should command an even higher valuation. What's more the seller (ING) was forced by regulators to do so against its will, the ING CEO calling it a "significant destruction of capital." Spinoff & Reorg Profiles - rarely a fan of promoted IPOs - think's it's worth $31. With an easily digestible $6B market cap, it might be worth even more to an acquirer. 3 Comments [Quick Ideas, Financials]
Thursday, May 16, 4:41 PM The Hartford (HIG) declares $0.10/share quarterly dividend, in line with previous. Forward yield 1.30%. For shareholders of record June 3. Payable July 1 . Ex-div date May 30. (PR) 2 Comments [Dividends]
Monday, May 13, 2:34 PM More on the insurance upgrades (I, II) by Barclays: Not convinced AIG can boost P&C results much more, or that either it or Hartford Financial (HIG) can do much to improve returns at their life insurance units, Jay Gelb says both should aim to boost value by buying back shares trading at steep discounts to book value. He sees $5B in buybacks for AIG for both 2014 and 2015, and $750M for Hartford. 1 Comment [Financials]
Monday, May 13, 7:25 AM Barclays is busy with the insurers, upgrading Hartford Financial (HIG) to Buy along with its upgrade of AIG. Shares +0.2% premarket. Comment! [Financials]
Friday, May 10, 11:11 AM A basket of 27 stocks drawing at least 10% of their revenue from Japan is up 11% YTD, 600 bps shy of the median gain for a S&P 500 stock, according to Goldman, doing the study as the yen devaluation continues. Insurers make up 3 of the 5 deriving the largest portion of revenue from Japan, with Aflac (AFL) a big underperformer, but Hartford (HIG) and Prudential (PRU) beating S&P gains. 1 Comment [Financials]
Tuesday, April 30, 3:13 PM Hartford Financial (HIG +3.2%) surges to an new 52-week high post earnings, with JPMorgan's Jimmy Bhullar noting particularly strong margins in both commercial and consumer P&C lines, and suggesting an acceleration of share buybacks as a catalyst to even more upside. Comment! [Financials, On the Move]
Monday, April 29, 4:46 PM More on Hartford Financial (HIG) Q1 earnings: Earnings helped by lower than expected catastrophe losses. P&C combined ratio improved to 91.8 from 93.9 a year ago, written premiums fell 1%. Annualized investment yield of 4.3% is flat Y/Y. Book value/share (excl. AOCI) of $39.09, off 4% from a year ago. Talcott Resolution - the insurer's run-off life and annuity operation - cut $73M from profits vs. $102M a year ago. Conference call at 9 ET. Shares -1% AH. (PR) Comment! [Earnings, Financials]
Monday, April 29, 4:32 PM Hartford Financial (HIG): Q1 EPS of $0.92 beats by $0.10. Shares -3.3% AH. Comment! [Earnings, Breaking News, Financials, On the Move]
Monday, April 29, 12:10 AM Notable earnings after Monday’s close: ANAD, ANH, BWLD, CBL, CRK, CSE, CYH, DTLK, ESRX, GGP, HIG, HLF, HTZ, IDTI, JEC, MAS, MSTR, NEM, PCL, QGEN, RGR, RJET, RVBD, SBAC, SSW, SU, TXRH, VECO 1 Comment [Earnings]
Sunday, April 28, 5:35 PM Notable earnings after Monday’s close: ANAD, ANH, BWLD, CBL, CRK, CSE, CYH, DTLK, ESRX, GGP, HIG, HLF, HTZ, IDTI, JEC, MAS, MSTR, NEM, PCL, QGEN, RGR, RJET, RVBD, SBAC, SSW, SU, TXRH, VECO 1 Comment [Earnings]
Thursday, April 25, 10:35 AM Hartford Financial (HIG) controller and SVP Robert Bateman resigns with his duties to be assumed by CFO Chris Swift until a permanent replacement can be found. The company in March was forced to restate 2012 Q3 earnings after finding "material weakness in its internal control over financial reporting." Comment! [Financials]
Tuesday, April 23, 11:05 AM The insurance sector is broadly higher following the MetLife dividend hike. Worth remembering - Met (MET) is a special case, until recently under the Fed's regulatory thumb due to its banking operations (now divested). PRU +2.8%, HIG +2.4%. Maybe most interesting is AIG +4.1% as investors ponder the capital return possibilities. 4 Comments [Financials, On the Move]
Monday, April 15, 7:24 AM Hartford Financial (HIG) is reiterated a Buy, but with price target raised to $35 from $30 at MKM Partners. Impressed with management's claim (CC transcript) the company is less risky thanks to improvements at Talcott Resolution, MKM believes plans to repurchase $100M of stock each quarter could get a boost in 2014. Comment! [Financials]
Friday, April 5, 2:56 PM A moderate late-session bounce in the S&P isn't helping many in the insurance sector stuck near the day's lows. Of particular interest is Aflac (AFL -4.1%) as the yen slides and the JGB market encountered a brutal selloff last night. The company presumably has significant exposure to both, but also presumably is hedged? PRU -3.4%, HIG -3.2%, LNC -2.4%. 3 Comments [Financials, On the Move]

1
2
3
4
5
6
...
15
Next Page