Hartford Financial (HIG) & Origin Partner to Enhance Offerings

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.
HIG recently
announced its partnership with Origin to enhance its Group Benefits
offerings with a financial planning tool. HIG will refer Origin's
Financial Planning tool to its employer customers aiming to help
U.S. employees with financial education, planning and
budgeting.

Per Hartford Financial's Future of
Benefits Study, nearly one-third U.S. workers feel insecure about
their financial situation and encourage financial education tools
to help with managing debt, retirement planning, etc. Hence, this
move bodes well for HIG, enhancing its product suite and acting as
a key differentiator. Moreover, as employers benefit from this,
retention will improve as a result.

This tool is a blessing for U.S.
workers who often get troubled by an unexpected accident, illness
or loss of a family member. Enabling them to better manage their
finances will increase employee satisfaction. Employers will gain
from competitive benefits packages and be able to attract and
retain talent in a competitive market. The company will benefit
from new business and improved premiums in the future.

Origin's platform for financial
planning will be providing financial management tools for free to
employees. Employees will also have an option to get paid services
like tax filing or one-on-one interaction with a certified
financial planner. Financial stress impedes employee productivity,
therefore this new solution is a win-win situation for employers
facing employee inefficiency and retention issues.

Moves like this builds on HIG's
strategic priorities to leverage its product breadth to drive
organic growth. Group Benefits premiums improved 6% in the fourth
quarter of 2023 and its core earnings margin stood at 9.8%. The
company expects to deliver a core earnings margin of 6-7% in
2024.

Zacks Rank & Price
Performance

Hartford Financial currently
carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Shares of HIG have gained 32.3% in
the past six months compared with the
industry's
12.7% growth.

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Source: Zacks Investment Research

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks in the
Multi-Line insurance space are
Horace Mann Educators Corporation
HMN,
Assurant, Inc.
AIZ and
EverQuote, Inc.
EVER. While
Horace Mann sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Assurant and
EverQuote currently carry a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy) each. You can
see
the
complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The bottom line of Horace Mann
outpaced estimates in three of the last four quarters and matched
the mark once, the average surprise being 15.2%. The Zacks
Consensus Estimate for HMN's 2024 earnings is pegged at $3.15 per
share, which has more than doubled from the year-ago reported
figure. The consensus estimate for revenues indicates a 9.2% rise
from the prior-year reported figure. The consensus mark for HMN's
2024 earnings has moved 5% north in the past 30 days.

Assurant's bottom line outpaced
estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average
surprise being 42.2%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AIZ's 2024
earnings and revenues indicates 3.4% and 4.1% growth from the
respective prior-year reported figures. The consensus mark for
AIZ's 2024 earnings has moved 6% north in the past 30 days.

The bottom line of EverQuote
outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four
quarters, the average surprise being 36.8%. The consensus estimate
for EVER's 2024 earnings and revenues suggests a 64.9% and8.1%
improvement from the respective prior-year reported figures.

Shares of Horace Mann, Assurant and
EverQuote have gained 10.7%, 7.7% and 30.9%, respectively, year to
date.

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The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (HIG): Free Stock
Analysis Report

Assurant, Inc. (AIZ): Free Stock Analysis Report

EverQuote, Inc. (EVER): Free Stock Analysis Report

Horace Mann Educators Corporation (HMN): Free Stock Analysis
Report

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