Sterne Agee Leaves Protective Life $34 PT Unchanged (PL)

Sterne Agee left its Protective Life PL $34 price target unchanged in a research report published today. Sterne Agee has previously rated Protective Life as Neutral. In the report, Sterne Agee states, "Reported Results. PL reported Operating EPS of $0.62, below our $0.63 and consensus $0.65. Results included a lot of noise, which taken altogether added $0.07 to 4Q10 results, leaving a “core” number of $0.55, significantly below our expectations and producing an annualized ROE of just over 6%. If the results in Life Marketing represent a new run-rate (i.e., mortality remains favorable and NII remains higher than recent periods) and we adjust for all other items, we think a run-rate could be as high as $0.67 heading into 2011, though that feels like a bit of a stretch." Shares of Protective Life closed Thursday at $28.99, down 0.17% from Wednesday's market close.