Property & Casualty Insurance

KBW is out with its report today on FPIC Insurance Group (NASDAQ: FPIC), maintaining Market Perform. In a note to clients, KBW writes, "The quarter was driven by strong underwriting results that included 16.7 points of favorable development. We are raising both our 2011 and 2012 estimates to $2.55...

KBW is maintaining its Market Perform rating on shares of Safety Insurance Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SAFT). “The quarter's beat was driven primarily by higher favorable development while top-line growth was better than expectations partially offset by weaker investment income,” KBW writes. Safety...

Pre-open moversUS stock futures are lower this morning, after the drop in Asian and European markets, due to worse-than-expected Chinese trade data. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 47 points to 12,127.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index fell 7 points to 1,308.40....

On March 4, AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMSF) reported 4Q10 operating EPS of $0.38 compared to $0.32 in 4Q09. Book value per share increased 11% to $17.72 compared to $16.00 a year ago. The fourth quarter of 2010 was the first quarter in two years that AMSF reported an annual increase in gross written...

Wunderlich Securities has upgraded Amerisafe (NASDAQ: AMSF) from Hold to Buy and has raised the price target from $18 to $25.

Analysts at Wunderlich upgrade Amerisafe Inc (NASDAQ: AMSF) from “hold” to “buy.” The target price for AMSF has been raised from $18 to $25. AMSF shares gained 2.11% to close at $21.51 yesterday. More Analyst Ratings here

By Roger Choudhury Investment Underground screened for companies that Warren Buffett would buy for Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), (BRK.B) and Wesco (WSC) with an eye for retaining a stake in the long-run. These companies are endowed with wide moats and sustainable competitive advantages relative to...

By Roger Choudhury Investment Underground screened for companies that Warren Buffett would buy for Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), (BRK.B) and Wesco (WSC) with an eye for retaining a stake in the long-run. These companies are endowed with wide moats and sustainable competitive advantages relative to...

Assured Guaranty Ltd., (NYSE: AGO) announced today that Séan W. McCarthy, Chief Operating Officer of Assured Guaranty, will be leaving the Company at the end of the month to pursue other opportunities. Assured Guaranty's operating units will report directly to Dominic Frederico, President and...

Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, AG (NYSE: AWH) announced today that its initial loss estimate from the February 22, 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand is in the $30 million to $40 million range pre-tax and net of reinsurance recoverables.

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter! I have written updates the past 3 months on a screen I call "High Yield Stocks with Staying Power".  The screen is tracked publicly as a continuous hypothetical portfolio with a starting balance of $100,000 on Scott's Investments (see the right hand column...

Simon Goodley of the Guardian reports, Wall Street's secretive 'expert networks': It is July 21, 2009, and one Wall Street hedge fund manager has a sudden change of heart. Having bought more than 1m shares in the giant technology company AMD over the past two weeks, the trader loses confidence...

Today the board of directors of State Auto Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: STFC) declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per share, payable March 31, 2011, to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 14, 2011. This is the 79th consecutive quarterly cash dividend declared...

AMERISAFE, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMSF), a specialty provider of hazardous workers' compensation insurance, today announced results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2010. Gross premiums written increased for the quarter in comparison to the same period in the previous year. This growth was driven...

  AXIS Capital Holdings Limited ("AXIS Capital") (NYSE: AXS) today announced that the Company’s Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per common share. The common dividend will be payable on April 15, 2011 to the shareholders of record at the close...