Old Republic price target raised to $40 from $38 at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler analyst Paul Newsome raised the firm’s price target on Old Republic (ORI) to $40 from $38 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares after the company reported a miss versus Piper’s and consensus’ estimates mainly driven by worse-than-expected Specialty Insurance underwriting results. While there were concerns over unfavorable development in commercial auto last quarter, there was favorable development across lines including commercial auto this quarter, Piper argues. The miss appears to be driven more by higher-than-expected expenses and accident year loss ratio, the firm adds.