Hartford Financial Services Group News

The Hartford Financial Services Group's biggest stakeholder is not happy with its stock price and wants The Hartford CEO Liam McGee to do "something drastic," including splitting up the company's life insurance and P/C businesses.

Conventional wisdom provides that financial companies will continue to report weak earnings.

The insurance industry has become quite adept at understanding risk and getting paid very to well to protect people from the ones that concern them.

HARTFORD, Conn. - The future makeup of one of the few remaining large multiline insurers was thrown into question last week when the Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.'s largest shareholder publicly called for the company to be split up.

Hartford Financial 's stock had its "neutral" rating reaffirmed by Zacks Investment Research in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Hartford Financial said that it would have difficulty maintaining competitive ratings if it separated its life insurance and P&C companies while allocating $6.8B in holding company debt.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Liam McGee, the ex-banker hired in 2009 to restore profits, is resisting renewed pressure from Wall Street to split apart the 201-year-old insurer.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 5.75 points to 12,883.95. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 11.78 points to 2,915.86 and the S&P 500 Stock Index rose 2.91 points to 1,349.96. Indications Greece is ready to sign off on an austerity program proposed by leaders of the European Union helped stocks recover and could provide momentum on Thursday.

Rambus Inc. : BWS Financial believes Rambus' settlement with NVIDA is a significant positive surprise since it brings an end to a costly legal battle for the company.

Shares of Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. and IntercontinentalExchange Inc.

In trading on Wednesday, shares of Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. crossed above their 200 day moving average of $20.54, changing hands as high as $20.85 per share.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. , the seller of life insurance and property-casualty coverage, reported fourth-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates and said commercial pricing improved.

S&P 500 component Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. reported its results for the fourth quarter.

Excluding items, Hartford said "core earnings" were 69 cents a share, topping conensus analyst estimates.

Back in October I wrote an article about how stocks could reclaim highs from July.

Setting Greece's troubles aside, Portugal stands next in line. The yield on its 10-year bonds surged to a record high of 15.2% on Monday, January 30.

S&P 500 component Hartford Financial Services will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, February 7, 2012.

CenterState's fourth-quarter net income was $14.1 million, according to a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

S&P 500 component Assurant Inc. will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, February 1, 2012.

U.S. financial stocks fell Friday morning with the broader market as a weaker than expected GDP number weighed on investors while an earnings report from T. Rowe Price and a downgrade of Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.