Topic: How To Invest

Hi Pat: I would like your thoughts on the following company: Hartford Financial Services Group. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., $17.76, symbol HIG on New York (Shares outstanding: 445.3 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; www.thehartford.com), is one of the leading providers of property and casualty insurance in the U.S. Hartford sells individual life insurance, annuities, asset-management services and employee benefits. Hartford has three main divisions: Commercial (which sells property and casualty insurance and employee benefits), accounts for 45% of the company’s revenue; Consumer Property & Casualty supplies 18% of revenue; and Wealth Management (life insurance, annuities, retirement accounts and mutual funds), provides 21% of revenue. The remaining 16% comes from the company’s investments and other activities. Hartford is paying higher claims due to severe tornadoes and storms in the U.S. Midwest and South this year: in the three months ended June 30, 2011, it paid $290 million in claims related to these disasters. That’s why its earnings fell 40.6% in the quarter, to $104 million, or $0.19 a share. A year earlier, it earned $175 million,…