Hartford Financial Profit Rises

(RTTNews) - Hartford Financial Services Group Inc (HIG) on Monday reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $382 million or $0.86 per share compared with $314 million or $0.65 per share last year.

Results for the 2014 quarter included an $83 million, after-tax, charge for voluntary lump-sum pension settlements; and income from discontinued operations of $37 million, after-tax.

Excluding items, core earnings for the quarter were $0.96 per share compared with $0.79 per share a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.93 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter were $4.62 billion compared with $4.78 billion in the prior year.

Analysts estimated revenues of $4.69 billion for the quarter.

For the full year 2015, the company expects core earnings of $1.55 billion to $1.65 billion and adjusted core earnings of $1.57 billion to $1.67 billion.