Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG) agreed to refund $48.2 million to workers' compensation policyholders in Florida as it earned excess profits on such policies it issued between 2004 and 2006.   On Wednesday, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation said that it has instructed Hartford to take this action as its profits exceeded the state law, which prohibits insurers from earning excess profits and requires surpluses to be refunded to policyholders.   This refund brings the total amount of refund to all workers' compensation policyholders in Florida to approximately $98.8 million this year. During the last year, more than $29.7 million in excess workers’ compensation profits were refunded.   The refund of $48.2 million is really significant for Florida at this point as the state is going through a challenging period precipitated by the ongoing economic turmoil.   Among the other insurers, Hartford was the first to receive ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 26, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today's outlook from Zacks Equity Research analyst Neena Mishra discusses the Insurance sector. Highlighted stocks include: PartnerRe Ltd. (PRE), Amerisafe, Inc. (AMSF), Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG), Primus Guaranty (PRS) and PMI Group (PMI).

Here is the latest on the Insurance sector:

We remain positive on reinsurer PartnerRe Ltd. (PRE) due to its excellent underwriting abilities, strong capitalization, solid ratings and reputation in the market, which will enable it to take advantage of the stronger demand and better pricing being witnessed currently. We also have a Buy rating on Amerisafe, Inc. (AMSF) in view of its strong capital position and sustained improvement in the results.

Currently we do not have any Sell recommendations on insurance stocks under

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The turmoil in the financial markets resulted in a highly challenging environment for the U.S. insurance industry, a trend that is expected to continue through the end of the current year, though some signs of improvement can be seen now. We also expect further consolidation in the industry.

Life Insurers

Continued losses in the investment portfolio and lower income from the variable annuity business will continue to hurt earnings. Most life insurers have substantial exposure to commercial-real-estate-backed loans and securities, which will result in further losses in the coming quarters.

The Industry's statutory capital levels have fallen sharply and some companies are trying to raise capital through the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). The Treasury has already approved six life insurers for capital infusion under TARP.

Property & Casualty Insurers

Insurers' losses from natural disasters surged in 2008, with maximum losses resulting from Hurricane Ike (insured losses of approximately $15 billion). Six named storms --

...

The turmoil in the financial markets resulted in a highly challenging environment for the U.S. insurance industry, a trend that is expected to continue through the end of the current year, though some signs of improvement can be seen now. We also expect further consolidation in the industry.

Life Insurers

Continued losses in the investment portfolio and lower income from the variable annuity business will continue to hurt earnings. Most life insurers have substantial exposure to commercial-real-estate-backed loans and securities, which will result in further losses in the coming quarters.

The Industry's statutory capital levels have fallen sharply and some companies are trying to raise capital through the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). The Treasury has already approved six life insurers for capital infusion under TARP.

Property & Casualty Insurers

Insurers' losses from natural disasters surged in 2008, with maximum losses resulting from Hurricane Ike (insured losses of approximately $15 billion). Six named storms --

...

The turmoil in the financial markets resulted in a highly challenging environment for the U.S. insurance industry, a trend that is expected to continue through the end of the current year, though some signs of improvement can be seen now. We also expect further consolidation in the industry.Life InsurersContinued losses in the investment portfolio and lower income from the variable annuity business will continue to hurt earnings. Most life insurers have substantial exposure to commercial-real-estate-backed loans and securities, which will result in further losses in the coming quarters.The Industry's statutory capital levels have fallen sharply and some companies are trying to raise capital through the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). The Treasury has already approved six life insurers for capital infusion under TARP.Property & Casualty InsurersInsurers' losses from natural disasters surged in 2008, with maximum ...

Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG) said Chief Executive Ramani Ayer will retire by December, ending his 12-year stint at the top position in the midst of increasing pressure from shareholders.

As the credit crisis intensified through a tumultuous year, Hartford lost $2.7 billion for writing down the value of mortgage-related assets and corporate debt in 2008.

In October, faced with concerns over the company's capital levels, Ayer accepted a $2.5 billion cash investment from German peer Allianz SE (AZ).

Even then, the downward trend in equity markets continued to drag the Connecticut-based firm along with it. All three key credit ratings agencies downgraded Hartford. To meet rising challenges, Ayer cut jobs, slashed the company's dividend by 84% and appealed for funds under the US Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Last month, Hartford won preliminary approval for $3.4 billion in government bailout along with six other insurers.

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 2, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Prudential (PRU), Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG), Allstate (ALL), Lincoln National Corp. (LNC) and Principal Financial Group (PFG).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Monday's Analyst Blog:

Prudential Chooses to Go It Alone

Last month, under the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) the major insurers, including Prudential (PRU), Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG), Allstate (ALL), Lincoln National Corp. (LNC) and Principal

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Last month, under the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), 6 major insurers -- Prudential (PRU), Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG), Allstate (ALL), Lincoln National Corp. (LNC), Ameriprise Financial (AMP) and Principal Financial Group (PFG) were permitted to tap into the program for additional capital. As of Friday, only ALL and AMP had declined to accept the government's offer of funds. However, earlier today PRU stated that it would not be taking funds from the government's financial rescue program. Instead, the company plans to raise $1.25 billion on its own through a common stock offering in order to beef-up its reserves.Any additional funds will be used for general corporate purposes (including adding capital to its insurance subsidiaries for the repayment of short-term debt or for potential strategic initiatives). In addition, the underwriters of the offering have been granted ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - April 27, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today's outlook from Zacks Equity Research analyst Neena Mishra discusses the Insurance sector. Highlighted stocks include: PartnerRe Ltd. (PRE), Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG), Primus Guaranty (PRS) and PMI Group (PMI).

Here is the latest on the Insurance sector:

We remain positive on reinsurer PartnerRe Ltd. (PRE) due to its excellent underwriting abilities, strong capitalization, solid ratings and reputation in the market, which will enable it to take advantage of the stronger demand and better pricing being witnessed currently.

We have Sell recommendation on Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG), as we suspect that the company will face higher losses on the investment portfolio and its variable annuity business.

Primus Guaranty (PRS), a seller of credit default swaps, will face increased losses from its exposure to

...

Ongoing turmoil in the financial markets has resulted in a highly challenging environment for the U.S. insurance industry -- a trend that is expected to continue at least through the end of the current year. We also expect further consolidation in the industry.

Life Insurers

Increased losses in the investment portfolio and lower income from the variable annuity business will continue to hurt earnings. Further, most life insurers have substantial exposure to commercial-real-estate-backed loans and securities, which will result in further losses in the coming quarters.

The Industry's statutory capital levels have fallen sharply and some companies are trying to raise capital through the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). Treasury has stated that some of the life insurers may qualify for TARP because of their Bank Holding Company status.

Property & Casualty Insurers

Insurers' losses from natural disasters surged in 2008, with maximum losses resulting from Hurricane Ike (insured losses of approximately $15 billion). Six

...