Property & Casualty Insurance

At 10:05 am, the Dow rose 0.08% to 12,515.64, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index moved up 0.03% to 1,319.88 and the NASDAQ composite index dropped 0.34% to 2,793.11. The industries that are supporting the market today are: Surety & Title Insurance: This industry jumped 1.61% by 10:05...

BGB is out with its report today on Argo Group International Holdings (NASDAQ: AGII), reiterating Buy. In a note to clients, BGB writes, "AGII has provided guidance for 2Q11 CAT loss of between $30M and $35M. The losses relate primarily to 2Q11 storms. Despite the number of storm losses, the loss...

Below are the top large-cap property & casualty insurnace stocks on the NYSE and the NASDAQ in terms of PEG ratio. American International Group Inc (NYSE: AIG) has a PEG ratio of 0.81. AIG's trailing-twelve-month revenue is $76.45 billion. Hartford Financial Services Group Inc (NYSE: HIG) has...

Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIGI) today announced that its subsidiaries have entered into renewal rights and related agreements with subsidiaries of Alterra Capital Holdings Limited to write commercial lines contract binding authority excess and surplus policies, expanding Selective's...

Harleysville Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HGIC) today announced the appointment of Arne Herenstein as senior vice president and chief information officer. In this position, he will direct the company's ongoing information technology strategy, integration and development efforts. He will report to Michael...

Shares of XL Group (NYSE: XL) are lower on the session by 2.04%, trading at $21.66. Overall call volume is now running at 3.41x the daily average, with 2% of all calls traded being purchases on the offer. 6,507 contracts have traded on the session so far. XL Group plc through its subsidiaries,...

KBW has an Outperform rating and a $75 price target on shares of Allied World Assurance Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: AWH). In a note to clients, KBW writes, "AWH pre-announced losses from 2Q11 U.S. storms of $40-50 mm pre-tax ($0.92-1.15/sh) and $25 million ($0.58/sh) of reserve additions related to 1Q11...

Wunderlich Securities reiterated its Buy rating on AmTrust Financial Services (NASDAQ: AFSI). At the same time, Wunderlich decided to raise its price target on the company's stock from $23 to $27. On Friday, AFSI lost 0.3% of its value to end the day at $23.38.

Shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE: PGR) are lower on the session by 1.43%, trading at $21.33. Overall call volume is now running at 6.63x the daily average, with 71% of all calls traded being purchases on the offer. 1,087 contracts have traded on the session so far. The Progressive...

Losers: XL Group (NYSE: XL) is trading down nearly 9% near $20.50. Autoliv (NYSE: ALV) is trading down over 8% near $73.10, after the DOJ and EC began investigating the company for potential anti-trust violations. Check Point Software (NASDAQ: CHKP) is trading down over 5.5% near $54.78. Dollar...

Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, AG (NYSE: AWH) announced today that it expects to record approximately $65 million to $75 million in catastrophe related losses and loss expenses in the second quarter of 2011. This range is comprised of approximately $40 million to $50 million from...

KBW reiterated its Market Perform rating on Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE: THG). At the same time, KBW left its price target on the company's stock unchanged at $48. On Wednesday, Hanover Insurance added 0.78% to its value to end the day at $37.56.

Piper Jaffray has a Neutral rating and a $7.50 price target on shares of Hallmark Financial (NASDAQ: HALL). In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "Hallmark Financial announced the acquisition of Texas Builders Insurance Company, a small and middle market workers compensation insurer based in...

Piper Jaffray has an Overweight rating and a $80 price target on shares of ProAssurance Corp. (NYSE: PRA). In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "While the usual cast of concerns such as frequency of claim, premium rate action and reserve development weigh on investor's minds, out attention...

Cusick's Corner The month of June is behind us and the market is on a very positive course. I do have some skepticism about the market's move over the last four days because it's been based on the light volume. I will be watching the volume next week and to see if there isn't a pullback where...