Property & Casualty Insurance

Analysts at Oppenheimer maintain their "perform" rating on STEC, Inc. (NYSE: STC). The target price for STC has been reduced from $21 to $10. According to Oppenheimer, the target price was lowered to reflect STEC’s Q1 guidance and its overhang at EMC. STEC’s shares closed at $13.42 yesterday. More...

Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc (NASDAQ: GPRE) shares soared 20.37% to $17.02. The volume of GPRE shares traded was 1,781% higher than normal. GPRE reported its Q4 net income at $23.1 million, or $0.91 a share, as compared to a net loss of $1.8 million, or $0.08 a share, recorded a year ago. GPRE...

Today the market is essentially unchanged, but has been swinging back and forth from the green to the red. Hot sectors for today’s trading session include: Financials – - American international Group (NYSE: AIG) up 8.62% - Amtrust Financial (NASDAQ: AFSI) up 5.92% - National Bank of Greece (NYSE...

Analysts at Oppenheimer downgrade PMA Capital (NASDAQ: PMACA) from "outperform" to "perform." According to Oppenheimer, the downgrade in the rating was based on valuation. PMACA’s shares dipped 3.07% to close at $6.00 on Friday. More Analyst Ratings here

Acxiom Corporation (NASDAQ: ACXM) shares created a new high of $16.49, before slipping marginally to 16.495, to reflect a 1.13% gain. ACXM offers interactive marketing services in the US. Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) shares rose 0.97% to $23.99, creating a new 52-week high. ALTR designs,...

Below are the top 5 consumer goods stocks on the NYSE and NASDAQ in terms of operating margins. The trailing-twelve-month operating margins at Iconix Brand Group Inc (NASDAQ: ICON) are 66.95%. ICON’s quarterly earnings growth stands at 24.60% y/y. Read more about this company here. The trailing-...

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: AAWW) was downgraded by Maxim Group from “buy” to “hold.” AAWW’s shares fell 0.85% to $39.86 by 1:29 pm. Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc has a 52-week trading range of $9.84-$42.08. Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey downgraded Zenith National Insurance Corp (...

Standpoint Research has downgraded shares of Zenith National Insurance (NYSE: ZNT) from a Buy to a Hold. The stock is up 30.58% today to $37.76 after receiving a takeout bid from Fairfax Financial Holdings (TSE:FFH). Standpoint analyst, Ronnie Moas, believes that after today's move, the company is...

Canada's Fairfax Financial Holdings is acquiring the remaining shares of Zenith National Insurance (NYSE: ZNT) that it doesn't already own. The deal values the shares at $38 per share, which represents a 31% premium to ZNT’s closing price for yesterday. The deal values ZNT, which provides workers'...

State Auto Financial Corp (NASDAQ: STFC), a property and casualty insurance holding company, reported profit for the fourth quarter. The company said that increase in earned premiums helped it to post positive earnings. However, the company expects the growth in its personal lines to decline in...

Analyst Bijan Moazami at FBR Capital Markets (NASDAQ: FBCM) has added The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) to the FBR Top Picks list. The company replaces Tower Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWGP) in the list. According to FBR, Allstate’s solid result for the fourth-quarter is an indicator of the company’s...

Allstate Corp (NYSE: ALL) is seeing large call activity on the April $31 line. So far, over 15,000 contracts have traded, though action on the line is a bit mixed. Early in the day, I detected 6,000 contracts sold for $0.65, though just minutes ago roughly 9,000 contracts were bought on the offer...

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) swung back to a quarterly profit when it reported financial results late Wednesday. Allstate Corp. reported 4th quarter net income came in of $518 million, or 96 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $1.13 billion, or $2.10 per share, for the same quarter a year ago...

Analyst Brian Meredith of UBS maintains his "buy" rating on XL Capital (NYSE: XL), while raising his estimates for the company. The target price for XL has been raised from 21.00 to 21.50. XL Capital reported its Q4 EPS short of the estimates due to smaller-than-expected loss reserve releases,...

Analyst Brian Meredith of UBS maintains his "buy" rating on Aspen Insurance (NYSE: AHL), while reducing his estimates for the company. The target price for AHL has been raised from $30 to $31. Aspen Insurance has reported its Q4 EPS significantly ahead of the estimates and the consensus, driven by...