How does mortgage life insurance work

best insurance stock - How does mortgage life insurance work : The best way to think of mortgage life insurance is that it is term life insurance with a single purpose: to payoff your mortgage in the event of your death.

A mortgage life insurance policy is tied to your mortgage in almost every way. At the time that you take your mortgage, whether on a purchase or refinance, the death benefit on insurance policy is set up to match the amount of your mortgage loan.

However, the death benefit will decline as your mortgage is paid down. Once your mortgage is paid off, the life insurance goes away.

In the event of your death, the proceeds of the policy will go right to your lender to payoff the mortgage on your house.

As to the specifics, there are variations depending on which insurance company you use as well as the particulars in your situation. It�s also important to remember that while a lender may recommend that you get mortgage life insurance, you are not required to get it. It is strictly optional coverage.

Brightcove Inc earnings loss q4 2012

best insurance stock - Brightcove Inc earnings loss q4 2012 : Brightcove Inc. (BCOV - Snapshot Report) reported a loss of 13 cents in the fourth quarter of 2012, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 7 cents. However, loss per share was narrower than a loss of 75 cents reported in the year-ago quarter.

 Revenues

Revenues jumped 31.3% from the year-ago quarter to $24.3 million, slightly better than the consensus mark. The year-over-year surprise was primarily driven by a 34.2% surge in Subscription and Support revenues, which fully offset an 8.4% plunge in Professional services and Other revenues.

Brighcove�s revenues from premium offerings jumped 29% year over year to $21.8 million. Premium refers to Brighcove�s traditional video cloud customers, the enterprise edition of app cloud and Zencoder customers on annual contracts. Revenues from volume offerings surged 53.0% year over year to $2.5 million.

Brightcove�s customer base expanded 64% from the year-ago quarter to 6367, which includes 1625 premium customers and 4742 volume customers. Sequentially, both premium and volume customers increased by 52 and 172, respectively.

Brightcove added a number of major companies to its customer base that includes the likes of insurance provider Allstate (ALL - Analyst Report) and biopharmaceutical company Bristol Meyers Squibb (BMY - Analyst Report). Brightcove also entered into a partnership with Viacom (VIA - Snapshot Report) and NBC.

Revenues from non-media customers (60% of total revenues) grew 60% year over year, while media customers (40% of total revenue) increased 17% from the year-ago quarter. Recurring dollar retention rate was 89% in the fourth quarter.

Region wise, revenues from North America (64% of total revenue) increased 29% year over year to $15.6 million. Europe (23% of total revenue) jumped 33.0% year over year to $5.6 million. Asia-Pacific including Japan (13% of total revenue) soared 35.0% from the year-ago quarter to $3.1 million.

Margins

Gross margin increased 20 basis points (�bps�) on a year-over-year basis to 69.8% in the reported quarter. Operating expenses soared 27.7% year over year to $20.7 million due to 27.5% year-over-year increase in research & development expenses, 20.6% year-on-year rise in sales & marketing expenses and a 46.1% jump in general & administrative expenses.

Loss from operations (including stock-based compensation) was $3.7 million, wider than $3.3 million reported in the year-ago quarter on a higher revenue base.

Net loss (including stock based compensation) of $3.7 million was narrower than a loss of $3.8 million incurred in the prior-year quarter.

Balance Sheet and Cash flow

Exiting the fourth quarter, Brightcove had cash, cash equivalents and investments of $30.0 million, down from $30.8 million reported in the third quarter. Brightcove generated cash flow of $2.7 million in the fourth quarter. Free cash flow was $2.5 million in the quarter.

Outlook

For the first quarter, Brightcove expects revenues in the range of $23.5 million to $24.0 million, which represents 18% to 21% year-over-year growth. Non-GAAP operating loss is expected to be $2.0 million to $2.3 million. Non-GAAP loss is expected in the range of 8 cents to 10 cents per share.

For fiscal 2013, Brightcove expects revenues to be in the range of $102.0 million to $105.0 million, which represents 16% to 19% year-over-year growth. Non-GAAP loss is expected to be $4.5 million to $6.5 million. Non-GAAP net loss per share is expected in the range of 18 cents to 25 cents per share.

Recommendation

We believe that strong demand for cloud-based solutions, security and mobile products, and online videos along with strategic acquisitions are the positives for the stock over the long term. However, intense competition and sluggish macro-economic environment are the near-term headwinds.

Currently, Brightcove has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Insurance stock prices analysis today

Best Insurance Stock  - Insurance stock prices analysis today : Metlife Inc stock prices analysis, Genworth Financial Inc ,  Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) , ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING) : Metlife Inc (NYSE:MET) stock is at $37.23, down-2.06 percent from its previous close of $38.20. Its today�s volume is 9.73 million shares in comparison to its usual trading volume of 8.67 million shares. The stock opened the session at $37.71 and touched its highest price point at $37.80.

The company is on track to expand the portfolio of Americas head William Wheeler with a $2 billion agreement to takeover AFP Provida SA (PROVIDA) from Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA), highlighting the potential he may be the next chief executive officer.

Metlife Inc�s lowest price point for the session stood at $37.22, and its 52 week price range stood at $27.60 - $39.55. The company has total of 1.09billion outstanding shares and its total market capitalization is $40.62billion. Its beta value stands at 1.99 times and earning per share was $2.05.

Previous 5 days graph demonstrated a negative move of -1.12%. MET�s quarterly performance remained green with the percentage of +7.29, while its year to date performance showed that the stock advanced overall 13.02%.

Genworth Financial Inc (NYSE:GNW) stock is at $9.15, down-1.61 percent from its previous close of $9.30. The stock opened the session at $9.23 and touched its highest price point at $9.25. Genworth Financial stock�s lowest price point for the session stood at $9.08.

Stocks graphical chart shows a bullish trend during its last one month�s trading session. It remained positive with 50.99% during previous three months trade.

Its today�s volume is 8.14 million shares in comparison to its usual trading volume of 10.66 million shares. Its beta value stands at 3.15 points. Currently stocks EPS is $0.61 while its price to earning ratio is 15.11.

Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) opened the session at $29.15 and remained in $28.73 and $29.25 price range during the session. The stock is 2.10 percent down at $28.88. Volume closed the day at 2.61 million shares, its average volume being 2.58 million shares.

The company has total of 275.02 million outstanding shares and its total market capitalization is $7.94billion. Its beta value stands at 2.66 times and earning per share was $1.44.

LNC was a loser in the 5 days activity and slipped about -0.59%. The one month performance of stock was positive as it scored more than 2.74%.

ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING) traded in the range of $9.41 and $9.64 in its previous trading session. The stock recorded the volume of 2.92 million shares so far, in comparison its average daily trading volume of 1.96 million shares. The company has total of 3.80 million outstanding shares and its total market capitalization is $35.81billion.

Company�s year to date performance remained declining as it lost almost -0.74%. If we look at last 6 months of trade that is in bullish zone with an increase of 42.08%

The stock opened at $9.64 and its closing price for the day was $9.42, down-5.52 percent from its previous close of $9.97. The beta of the INGstands at 2.77. 52 week range of the stock is $5.51 -$10.47. (source http://otcstockpicks.net/)

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Indonesia insurance property market forecast 2013

best insurance stock - Indonesia insurance property market forecast 2013 : Property insurance market share continues to shrink. Data General Insurance Association of Indonesia (AAUI) in the first semester of this year noted, the property insurance market share slipped to 27.4% from the same term last year's 29.9%.

Property market share surpassed by motor insurance rose to 30.1% from the previous 29%. Until the beginning of the semester, the total general insurance premiums Rp 18.89 trillion, grow 12.8% compared to the same period last year of Rp 16.74 trillion.

Property insurance contributions Rp 5.1 trillion or an increase of 3.5% from the same period last year of Rp 5 trillion. While gross property insurance claims actually grew 24.6% to Rp 2 trillion from Rp 1.6 trillion in the previous period. Premium of Rp 5.6 trillion, up 17.2% from Rp 4.8 trillion.

Increasingly shrinking property insurance estimate because the war was still going on tariffs. As a result, players choose cautious about accepting risk property insurance.

In addition, the granting of commissions to intermediaries such as broker or brokerage has been no standardization. First, the commission to the broker the range of 15% -20%, now has a range of 25% -30%. In addition, property premium rates were calculated using the model per mile.

Unlike auto insurance, calculations based on the percentage of the vehicle price. "Hence, the growth of the motor vehicle, the premiums vary with the property," said Julian.

With this condition, it is not likely the property insurance market share will continue to shrink in the coming period. Moreover, the desire to create a preference industry premium rates for property insurance has not yet materialized. That is, the property insurance premium price competition will continue to happen.

In fact, the desire to make the tariff preferences that have been around a long time. However, until now there is statistical data collected premium of industry players to make such preferences. Unlike in vehicle insurance, is there a reference rate.

2013 Asian commercial insurance rates

best insurance stock - 2013 Asian commercial insurance rates :Continued economic growth and low natural catastrophe losses, combined with strong competition between insurers in most classes of business, will continue to provide favourable market conditions for buyers of commercial insurance in Asia during 2013, according to a report published today by Marsh.

Organisations across Asia, especially those with little or no exposure to natural catastrophe risk or with good loss histories, should be able to secure reductions on their insurance rates, continuing a trend begun in the second half of 2012, Marsh noted in its Asia Insurance Market Report 2013.

However, Asian companies offering employee benefit programs can expect more challenging conditions this year as medical cost inflation continues to escalate significantly, putting upward pressure on rates.

For example, Marsh expects insurers to seek average rate increases of up to 35% in Thailand where medical inflation is expected to rise between 20% and 25% this year. An upward trend, with local variations, is expected to be seen in most Asian countries.

Marsh also noted that while rates for directors and officers (D&O) insurance for US-listed Chinese companies remained high the market had largely stabilised, partly due to a slow-down in IPO activity.

Across the rest of Asia, D&O rates generally remained flat or decreased, as increased litigation against directors was offset by an increase in insurance capacity.

�The insurance market in Asia remains generally favourable to buyers as the flow of capital, capacity and competition into the region keeps rates competitive,� says Martin South, CEO of Marsh in Asia-Pacific.

�However, there will always be the possibility of spikes in premiums following large market losses. As the industry matures, clients should focus on providing their insurers with robust evidence of their risk management and mitigation strategies, not only to secure competitive pricing, but also to ensure they have insurance protection aligned to their particular risk needs.�

The report also finds that employees� compensation (workers� compensation) in Hong Kong continues to be a challenging market. Rates continue to rise significantly as loss experiences deteriorate and major insurers enter and exit the market, creating significant turbulence.

Banks continue to use structured trade credit insurance as a way to both deleverage their balance sheets yet still remain active in the trade finance market in Asia.

Professional liability insurance remains a buyers� market, with highly competitive rates across Asia as new insurer entrants bring additional capacity and competition to the market, says the report.(source www.cfoinnovation.com )

Selective Insurance Group SIGI Stock rating price target by RBC Capital

best insurance stock - Selective Insurance Group SIGI Stock rating price target by RBC Capital : Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ: SIGI) had its target price upped by RBC Capital from $20.00 to $23.00 in a report released on Monday. RBC Capital currently has a sector perform rating on the stock.

Separately, analysts at Zacks upgraded shares of Selective Insurance Group from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note to investors on Tuesday, January 8th. They now have a $21.50 price target on the stock.

One analyst has rated the stock with a buy rating, and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. The company currently has an average rating of hold and an average target price of $20.40.

Selective Insurance Group traded down 0.77% on Monday, hitting $21.82. Selective Insurance Group has a 52-week low of $16.22 and a 52-week high of $22.08. The stock�s 50-day moving average is currently $19.85. The company has a market cap of $1.200 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17.

Selective Insurance Group last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 31st. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the analysts� consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.13. The company had revenue of $449.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.86 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. Selective Insurance Group�s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Selective Insurance Group will post $1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which is scheduled for Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 15th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 13th.

Selective Insurance Group, Inc. is a holding company of seven insurance subsidiaries. The Company, through its subsidiaries, offers property and casualty insurance products and services in the East and Midwest of the United States.

Aflac Dividend Stock forecast

Aflac Dividend Stock forecast : Aflac Incorporated provides supplemental health and life insurance in Japan (80% of earnings) and the U.S. Products are marketed at work sites and help fill gaps in primary coverage.

Fair Value: In calculating fair value, I consider the NPV MMA Differential Fair Value along with these four calculations of fair value, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:

1. Avg. High Yield Price

2. 20-Year DCF Price

3. Avg. P/E Price

4. Graham Number

AFL is trading at a discount to 3.) and 4.) above. The stock is trading at a 16.2% discount to its calculated fair value of $61.44. AFL earned a Star in this section since it is trading at a fair value.

Dividend Analytical Data: In this section there are three possible Stars and three key metrics, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:

1. Free Cash Flow Payout

2. Debt To Total Capital

3. Key Metrics

4. Dividend Growth Rate

5. Years of Div. Growth

6. Rolling 4-yr Div. > 15%

AFL earned three Stars in this section for 1.), 2.) and 3.) above. A Star was earned since the Free Cash Flow payout ratio was less than 60% and there were no negative Free Cash Flows over the last 10 years. The stock earned a Star as a result of its most recent Debt to Total Capital being less than 45%. AFL earned a Star for having an acceptable score in at least two of the four Key Metrics measured. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1973 and has increased its dividend payments for 30 consecutive years.

Dividend Income vs. MMA: Why would you assume the equity risk and invest in a dividend stock if you could earn a better return in a much less risky money market account (MMA) or Treasury bond? This section compares the earning ability of this stock with a high yield MMA. Two items are considered in this section, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:

1. NPV MMA Diff.

2. Years to > MMA

AFL earned a Star in this section for its NPV MMA Diff. of the $992. This amount is in excess of the $500 target I look for in a stock that has increased dividends as long as AFL has. The stock's current yield of 2.6% exceeds the 2.54% estimated 20-year average MMA rate.

Memberships and Peers: AFL is a member of the S&P 500, a Dividend Aristocrat, a member of the Broad Dividend Achievers� Index and a Dividend Champion. The company's peer group includes: American Independence Corp. (AMIC) with a 0.0% yield, Unum Group (UNM) with a 2.3% yield and CNO Financial Group, Inc. (CNO) with a 0.8% yield.

Conclusion: AFL earned one Star in the Fair Value section, earned three Stars in the Dividend Analytical Data section and earned one Star in the Dividend Income vs. MMA section for a total of five Stars. This quantitatively ranks AFL as a 5-Star Very Strong stock.

Using my D4L-PreScreen.xls model, I determined the share price would need to increase to $51.47 before AFL's NPV MMA Differential decreased to the $500 minimum that I look for in a stock with 30 years of consecutive dividend increases. At that price the stock would yield 2.6%.

Resetting the D4L-PreScreen.xls model and solving for the dividend growth rate needed to generate the target $500 NPV MMA Differential, the calculated rate is 5.3%. This dividend growth rate is lower than the 7.9% used in this analysis, thus providing a margin of safety. AFL has a risk rating of 1.25 which classifies it as a Low risk stock.

Operating in the two largest insurance markets in the world (U.S. and Japan), AFL has built a tremendous low-cost distribution system. Focusing on supplemental insurance products, AFL consistently generate excess returns for shareholders. Consistent earnings has allowed the company to increase its dividend and repurchase shares.

Despite a strong business model, the AFL's balance sheet remains stressed due to questions over some of its investments, specifically European bank hybrid bonds and European sovereign debt. The company has taken steps to de-risk its investment portfolio. This move will likely slow earnings growth over the next few years, but should lead to higher long-term value.

AFL is currently trading at a discount versus its historical valuation. The company is trading below my calculated fair value price of $61.44. However, a recent runup in its share price has lowered the stocks yield, so for now I will wait on a more attractive entry point before adding to my position.

Disclaimer: Material presented here is for informational purposes only. The above quantitative stock analysis, including the Star rating, is mechanically calculated and is based on historical information. The analysis assumes the stock will perform in the future as it has in the past. This is generally never true. Before buying or selling any stock you should do your own research and reach your own conclusion. See my Disclaimer for more information. Disclosure: At the time of this writing, I was long in AFL (1.5% of my Dividend Growth Portfolio).source : http://seekingalpha.com/article/1154141-aflac-incorporated-dividend-stock-analysis?source=google_news