Morgan Stanley Sees Solid Start to the Year for Hartford Financial Services Group

In a report published Tuesday, Morgan Stanley analyst Nigel Dally reiterated an Equal-Weight rating on

. In the report, Morgan Stanley noted, “The core investment debate for Hartford revolves around its initiatives to improve underwriting results in property and casualty and extract capital from its closed block of run‐off operations. Against this, the results posted by the company showed solid progress, with both upside in its property and casualty operations and a more aggressive pace of buybacks relative to our prior expectations. While some moderation in the pace of rate increases was a modest negative, the company still appears to be getting more rate than many of its peers. "Our fair value on the stock increases $1 to $39; as this suggests upside largely consistent with that of its peers, our Equal‐weight rating on the stock remains unchanged.” Hartford Financial Services Group closed on Monday at $34.47.