Life & Health Insurance

MetLife (NYSE: MET) announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, July 28, 2011. Get the latest predictions in Benzinga's essential guide to the company's second quarter earnings report. Earnings and Revenue: Analysts are predicting an EPS reading of $1.11 per share and revenues of $16.12...

According to Sterne, Agee & Leach, MetLife (NYSE: MET), expectations have been set. Sterne, Agee & Leach has set a rating of Buy and a PT of $58. They expect MetLife to outperform over the next 12 months. MetLife closed on Friday at $41.74.

The earnings crunch continues this week even as the month of July winds to a close. Quarterly reports of note scheduled for the week include those from Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), Merck (NYSE: MRK) and Dow Chemical (...

Shares of Unum Group (NYSE: UNM) are lower on the session by 0.89%, trading at $25.59. Overall put volume is now running at 92.35x the daily average, with 71% of all puts traded being purchases on the offer. 6,095 contracts have traded on the session so far. Unum Group and its insurance and non-...

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE: AMP) unveils its next round of earnings this Wednesday, July 27, 2011. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Wednesday's second quarter earnings announcement. Earnings and Revenue: Analysts are predicting an EPS reading of $1.34 per share and...

AFLAC Incorporated (NYSE: AFL) announces its next round of earnings this Wednesday, July 27, 2011. Get the latest predictions in Benzinga's essential guide to the company's second quarter earnings report. Earnings and Revenue: Analysts are predicting an EPS reading of $1.54 per share and...

Avid Tech (NASDAQ: AVID) is trading down over 20% after releasing Q2 earnings. StanCorp Financial Group (NYSE: SFG) is trading down over 14% after releasing Q2 earnings. AMCOL International (NYSE: ACO) is trading down nearly 13% after releasing Q2 earnings. Healthways (NASDAQ: HWAY) is trading...

Bank of America reiterated its Buy rating on Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC). At the same time, the rating agency left its price target on the company's stock unchanged at $41. On Thursday, LNC added 2.29% to its value to end the day at $27.73.

Analysts at FBR Capital downgraded StanCorp Financial Group Inc (NYSE: SFG) from “outperform” to “market perform.” SFG's stock closed at $41.22 yesterday. StanCorp Financial's trailing-twelve-month ROA is 1.06%. Analysts at Robert W. Baird downgraded Swift Transportation Company LLC (NYSE: SWFT)...

Wunderlich Securities reiterated its Hold rating on StanCorp Financial Group (NYSE: SFG). At the same time, the rating agency left its price target on the company's stock unchanged at $47. On Thursday, SFG lost 0.53% of its value to finish the day at $41.22.

MetLife (NYSE: MET), the largest life insurer in the U.S., said it was exploring the sale of its much smaller banking operations to avoid new federal regulations.

Wunderlich Securities is maintaining its Hold rating and $47 price target on shares of StanCorp Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: SFG), as it previews earnings. In a note to clients, Wunderlich Securities writes, "StanCorp Financial Group (SFG) is expected to report 2Q11 results today, July 21, after...

Wunderlich Securities reiterated its Hold rating on StanCorp Financial Group (NYSE: SFG). At the same time, the rating agency left its price target on the company's stock unchanged at $47. On Wednesday, SFG added 1.22% to its value to end the day at $41.44.

On CNBC's Mad Money, Jim Cramer said during the Lightning Round that UGI Corp (NYSE: UGI) is “another local stock to me. That is a terrific little company and I'm a buyer." He said that AFLAC (NYSE: AFL) is “one of the few insurers I don't want to own. I don't like their portfolio." For Advance...

Doug Kass tweeted that he is long three different insurers, which he believes are being unfairly taken down with the banks. Kass is long Lincoln Financial (NYSE: LNC), Prudential (NYSE: PRU) and MetLife (NYSE: MET).