Insurers drag on financials; investors eye hurricane, M&A

Kingstone Companies

22/08/2018 17:34

** U.S. insurers were the biggest drag on the S&P Financial
index  .SPSY  on Weds. Investors eyed hurricane Lane and
Hartford Financial Services Group Inc  HIG.N  purchase of
Navigators Group  NAVG.O 
    ** Sandler O'Neill analyst Paul Newsome says a hurricane
threat to Hawaii and changes in the M&A environment could
potentially be giving insurance investors pause
    ** But Newsome said the hurricane, which strengthened to a
category 5 as it charged toward Hawaii, would only affect a
subset of insurers if it hits the islands, which could happen
Thurs through Sat  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N1VD00L
    ** Of the cos his firm covers, Newsome said Heritage
 HRTG.N , Allstate  ALL.N , American International Group
 AIG.N , Progressive  PGR.N , Chubb  CB.N , Conifer  CNFR.O ,
and American Financial Group  AFG.N  have significant market
share in Hawaii
    ** Meanwhile, HIG is down 4 pct. Up to last close, stock had
fallen by 7 pct YTD.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1VD3OP Navigators up 9 pct
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1VD4EC
    ** S&P financials down slightly in midday trade, but bucking
the trend was Kingstone Companies  KINS.O  which was up 9 pct
after announcing it reduced its personal lines quota share
treaty ceding percentage to 10 pct from 20 pct  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nBw4Typ6na
    ** While the change increases KINS risk it should boost
revenue growth, according to Newsome
    ** "This gives us an excellent opportunity to keep more of
the profitable business we write and to more effectively utilize
the capital we’ve raised over the past year," Kingstone Chief
Operating Officer Dale Thatcher said in statement

 ((sinead.carew@thomsonreuters.com; +1 (646) 223 6186; Reuters
Messaging: sinead.carew.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))